Germany rolls out red carpet for King Charles III’s first foreign visit

King Charles III will begin his first state visit when he travels to Germany on Wednesday night in what is seen as an attempt to build post-Brexit bridges.

King Charles and wife Camilla will spend three days in Germany. Picture: AFP

King Charles III will begin his first state visit when he travels to Germany on Wednesday, having postponed a trip to France due to widespread political protests.

Charles will arrive in Berlin and undertake engagements there and in Brandenburg before heading to Hamburg during the three-day tour.

The decision to visit close neighbours first is widely seen as an attempt to build post-Brexit bridges, with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier calling it “an important European gesture”.

“This visit early on underlines the close and heartfelt friendship between our countries and our citizens,” he added.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Picture: AFP

Mr Steinmeier and German first lady Elke Buedenbender will welcome Charles and Queen Consort Camilla with military honours at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the first time the famous landmark has provided a backdrop for receiving a state guest.

The couples will then travel to Mr Steinmeier’s Bellevue Palace in the city centre, where he will host a state banquet for the royals.

The king will make a speech in the German federal parliament on Thursday and meet refugees recently arrived from Ukraine.

Mr Steinmeier and the royal couple will then visit a German-British military unit in the surrounding state of Brandenburg.

The king will move on to the northern port city of Hamburg on Friday, where he is due to tour a renewable energy project.

“It’s not a surprise that having become king he hasn’t ditched his longstanding interest in environmental issues,” said Bob Ward, from the London School of Economics.

“This is an issue that transcends politics and it can’t possibly be right that as our head of state he shouldn’t speak out on such a major issue,” added Mr Ward.

‘Friendly ties’

Charles and Mr Steinmeier will lay wreathes in the ruins of the city’s St Nikolai church, which was destroyed during a World War II air raid and now stands as a memorial.

The British monarch will also sign the city’s Golden Book, which he previously signed in 1987 during a visit with then wife Princess Diana.

The German head of state said he had extended the invitation to Charles, who has visited Germany more than 40 times, at the funeral of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last September.

“The fact that he is now visiting half a year later shows how much the king values the friendship between our peoples,” Steinmeier said.

“I want to tell him, but of course also all Britons: we in Germany, we in Europe, want close and friendly ties with the United Kingdom after Brexit as well,” he added.

Charles will be keen to kick off his first state visit as king after his trip to France, which was meant to take place earlier this week, was postponed in the wake of violent pension reform protests.

The visit was intended to highlight warming Franco-British relations, but instead underlined the severity of demonstrations engulfing Britain’s neighbour just 10 months into President Emmanuel Macron’s second term.

The decision was made “to welcome His Majesty King Charles III in conditions which reflect our friendly relations”, Mr Macron’s office said.

Mr Macron said discussions over rescheduling the visit could take place in the coming months.

“We have proposed that at the beginning of the summer, depending on our respective agendas, we can arrange a new state visit,” he said.

Camilla has slowly won acceptance – if not adulation – for her steadfast support for Charles and an unshowy dedication to good causes. Picture: AFP

Camilla’s rise

The trip is also significant for Camilla taking her first steps on the international stage as wife of the British monarch, marking the end of a long and sometimes bumpy journey from palace margins to royal limelight.

In the turbulent 1990s, Camilla was vilified as “the other woman” in Charles’s marriage to his first wife, Princess Diana.

But she has slowly won acceptance – if not adulation – for her steadfast support for her husband and an unshowy dedication to good causes.

Although her popularity ratings remain lower than most other senior royals, she is increasingly seen by the public as a warm and down-to-earth figure.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said the public now took a “benign view of Camilla” nearly three decades after Charles and Diana’s very public separation and divorce.

The royal couple were “very, very well suited”, being of a similar age and with a “similar sense of humour, similar friends”, he said.

“She was everything Diana wasn’t, of course, but I think what has got across is that she is very supportive in a pretty quiet way.”

‘Quiet dignity’

Since the death of Queen Elizabeth, the causes Camilla has supported for years have been given a much bigger platform.

They include the arts, promoting literacy and supporting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

“She’s been very low profile in the UK in recent decades. Now she has a moment to come more into the spotlight,” said Peter Ricketts, former UK ambassador to France.

Camilla is a “strong woman” and “a very warm person” who “believes passionately in her charitable convictions”, he added.

One cause closest to her heart is the Royal Osteoporosis Society which she has been president of for more than 20 years.

Both her mother and grandmother died from the crippling bone-weakening condition.

“She has done a lot of good work (but) it’s hard to know how much of that has permeated to the public,” Fitzwilliams said, adding she had a “quiet dignity”.

Camilla’s improved press was largely a reflection of “the genuine person” rather than a reported palace spin operation aimed at making her more acceptable to the public as Charles’s queen, he said.

The royal seal of approval for Camilla came last year when the late queen said it was her “sincere wish” that Camilla be known as Queen Consort after her death.

That finally put to rest suggestions she might instead hold the lesser title of Princess Consort – something Charles had long fought against.