King Charles III arrives in Germany for his first foreign visit as monarch

() — King Charles III arrived in Germany with the queen consort on Wednesday for his first foreign state visit as monarch, after the first part of the trip to France was postponed.

Landing at Berlin Brandenburg airport on Wednesday afternoon local time for the start of their three-day visit, they were greeted with a gun salute as two military jets flew by. German officials greeted the king and queen consort as they stepped off the plane.

They then traveled to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, where German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Budenbender, welcomed Carlos and Camila with a welcome ceremony with full military honors. The royal couple will then be guests of honor at a state banquet at Schloss Bellevue, the official residence of the President of Germany.

The trip should have started this Sunday in France, but the first leg was canceled amid strikes and civil unrest in the country due to the pension reforms of President Emmanuel Macron. The French leader said Friday his government would have lacked “common sense” to proceed amid the protests, before suggesting the trip could be rescheduled for early summer.

Before arriving in Germany, King Charles and Camilla said in a statement that they were “very much looking forward to meeting everyone who makes this country so special.”

They added: “It is a great joy to be able to continue the deepening of the long-standing friendship between our two nations.”

Crowds, some carrying UK and German flags or repurposed Burger King crowns, gathered at the capital’s Brandenburg Gate hours before the king’s arrival.

“To him and obviously to all Brits, I want to say that we in Germany, in Europe, want close and friendly relations with the UK even after Brexit,” Steinmeier said in a video message before the trip, according to Reuters.

This Thursday, Carlos will address the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament. He will then meet some Ukrainian refugees who sought refuge in Germany after the Russian invasion.

The next day, the King and Queen Consort will travel to Hamburg, where they will visit the St. Nikolai Memorial, a church that was badly damaged by Allied bombing during World War II. While there, the King and the President of Germany will lay wreaths as part of a short remembrance ceremony.

Despite the delayed start, the objectives of the trip remain the same. Traveling at the request of the British government and following an invitation from the German president, the king hopes to renew and strengthen ties after Britain’s departure from the European Union.

From left, the German flag, the Union Jack flag and the flag of the European Union in front of the Brandenburg Gate on the eve of King Charles’s visit to Germany.
(Markus Schreiber/AP)

“It’s also an opportunity to look ahead and show the many ways our countries are working in partnership, whether it’s tackling climate change; respond to the conflict in Ukraine; seize business and investment opportunities or share the best of our arts and culture,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement announcing the state visit earlier this month.

Charles last visited Germany as Prince of Wales in 2020 to mark the country’s National Day of Mourning for victims of war.