The Spanish royal couple Felipe VI. and Letizia has begun a three-day state visit to Germany. To begin with, the King and Queen were welcomed with military honors by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender in front of Bellevue Palace on Monday morning in glorious autumn weather.

The Bundeswehr Staff Music Corps played both national anthems. The heads of state then withdrew for talks. Büdenbender and Letizia wore dark blue dresses, although the shades of blue bit each other. In a black suit, Felipe walked along the front of the Bundeswehr guard battalion with Steinmeier.

Before the hosts and guests introduced their delegations to each other, they spoke at length with a group of students from the Joan Miró Elementary School, a bilingual school in Berlin. They patiently had selfies taken with them and gave autographs on German and Spanish paper flags that the children had with them.

A relationship of friendship

The Spanish king will also be received by Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the chancellery in the afternoon. The Chancellor had only been in La Coruña with half his cabinet for German-Spanish government consultations at the beginning of October. In the evening Steinmeier and Büdenbender give a state banquet in honor of the guests from Madrid.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia last visited Germany in December 2014. The Federal President and his wife were in Spain in October 2018.

The royal couple had already arrived in Berlin on Sunday evening. Shortly thereafter, it received 250 representatives of the Spanish community in Germany at the embassy. Felipe emphasized that the bilateral relations between the two countries are "characterized by friendship and joint efforts" and are currently in a particularly good phase. "Evidence of this is the number of Spanish companies operating here, as well as commercial relations, cultural cooperation, tourism."

Felipe acknowledged the importance of the emigrants for the image of Spain in Germany: "Your work is valued and respected here. It wasn't easy. You manage to do it anew every day." About 200,000 Spaniards live in Germany.

Office of the Federal President on the state visit Report on the reception in Europa Press