At the start of their two-day visit to Rhineland-Palatinate, the Belgian royal couple visited the pharmaceutical company Biontech in Mainz on Wednesday. King Philippe (62) and Queen Mathilde (49) were welcomed by Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD).

"We are very proud that you are here," said Dreyer, who made it back to Mainz just in time after the federal-state meeting in Berlin the night before. "This is our big lighthouse," she said to the guests from Belgium, referring to Biontech.

During a subsequent tour of the Biontech laboratories, the company informed the royal couple about its ongoing research in the search for individualized therapies against cancer. And of course the Corona vaccine should not go unmentioned. This is known in Germany as the "Biontech vaccine", but in Belgium it is considered a vaccine from the US partner company Pfizer, said Dreyer with a wink.

Pfizer has a large plant in Belgium. There "in the very dark days" at the beginning of the pandemic, the first Corona vaccines were manufactured by Biontech/Pfizer for worldwide deliveries, as Biontech board member Sean Marett recalled this German-Belgian commonality.

The royal couple did not speak at this first stop of the visit. Biontech founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci met Philippe and Mathilde at dinner on Tuesday, and according to Biontech they were on a research trip on Wednesday.

After the visit to Biontech, a tour of the Gutenberg Museum should follow. There, the royal couple wants to take a look at a rare copy of the Gutenberg Bible. A visit to the State Chancellery and the world-famous chemical company BASF in Ludwigshafen is also on the agenda. According to the plan, the royal couple will end the day at a winery in the Palatinate. On Thursday, Philippe and Mathilde will travel on to the Middle Rhine Valley.