With detours to the Federal Chancellery and the weekly market on Wittenbergplatz as well as an entry in the city's Golden Book, the British King Charles III. and his wife Camilla continued their visit to Berlin.
The entry in the Golden Book took place in the Hotel Adlon in the presence of the Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD). Crowds of people were waiting in front of the building to greet Charles III. to see. Several emphasized that they came by more by chance, but would now like to take the chance to see the king live: "Because it is his first official visit abroad as a king. He wants to improve relations between Great Britain and Germany, and I think that's a good thing ", said a British woman who had stopped at the Adlon on her way to work. "I'm not a big fan of the monarchy, but that seems like a big deal to me."
It is Charles' first trip abroad in his new role as king, which he assumed after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September. The central point on the second day of the state visit is a speech by the monarch around noon in the Bundestag - an appearance that is not entirely uncontroversial. Left boss Martin Schirdewan criticized the fact that "someone who was literally born with a golden spoon in his mouth" can be written into the family book.
On Wednesday, the royal couple had already triggered some enthusiasm after their arrival in Berlin. Charles and Camilla were greeted with military honors by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender at the Brandenburg Gate and cheered by onlookers. In the evening, the Federal President honored the monarch and his wife with a state banquet with 130 invited guests.
After the speech in the Bundestag, the state guest visited the arrival center for Ukrainian refugees at the former Tegel Airport together with Steinmeier. This ends the visit to the capital.
In the late afternoon, the King and Federal President make a detour to Brandenburg, which takes them to Finowfurt, north-east of Berlin. There they meet soldiers from a German-British engineer battalion from Minden. Not only is a conversation with Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke planned - there should also be action: the soldiers are assembling the last parts of a floating bridge over the Havel-Oder waterway and the British king is supposed to climb it.
Visit to the Ecovillage
Charles then drives to the eco-village of Brodowin, where he would like to find out more about how a particular type of cheese is made. Charles has been committed to biodynamic agriculture (demeter) for decades. As early as the 1980s, he switched to organic farming on his Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire.
Camilla and Büdenbender want to visit a social project in Berlin-Neukölln and the Komische Oper in Berlin-Mitte at the same time.
Politically, the visit is significant because three years after Britain's exit from the EU, a new chapter in Britain's relations with Europe and Germany is set to begin.
sign of approach
According to a survey, half of Germans see the visit of King Charles III as a sign of Great Britain's rapprochement with Germany after the Brexit alienation 37 percent "rather" and 13 percent "completely" agree. The visit to Germany is Charles' first trip abroad as the new British king.
According to the survey, 27 percent do not believe that Charles' visit means a rapprochement after Brexit (15 percent "tend to disagree", 12 percent "strongly disagree"). 24 percent did not provide any information.
