Berlin is feverishly preparing for the official visit tomorrow, Wednesday, of King Charles III and the royal wife Camilla. The program includes meetings with the state and political leadership, the Parliament, but also with citizens, while the security measures taken can only be compared to those applied during the recent visits of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President Barack Obama .

The program of the visit

The royal couple, who will remain in Berlin until Friday, will be received with military honors at the Brandenburg Gate in a ceremony that will be held for the first time by a visiting head of state in order, the federal presidency announced, to promote Germany’s close relationship with the United Kingdom. The meeting with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will take place tomorrow, while an official dinner will be held at Bellevue Palace. On Thursday King Charles III will meet the chancellor Olaf Solz and later he will address the plenary session of the Federal Parliament and on the same day he will also have a meeting with citizens, Germans, but also Britons living in Germany. The king, at his request, will also meet with refugees from Ukraine. The king will stay at the historic luxury hotel ADLON. According to information from BILD, Charles has specific ideas for his accommodation (probably in the “Royal Suite”) but also for the food. In this context, he brings his own cook with his cooking utensils.

On Friday the British monarch, accompanied by Mr. Steinmeier, will visit the German-British military unit in Brandenburg, which specializes in bridge construction. The two leaders will then travel by train to Hamburg to visit an ecological village and learn about environmental protection technologies. Then they will lay wreaths in the church of Agios Nikolaos, a monument to the victims of the Second World War, and before leaving Hamburg the king will also sign the book of the city, something he had done in 1987, when he visited the Hanseatic city with his then wife Diana.

Draconian security measures

In Berlin more than 2,000 police officers they will take care of stopping the traffic in the main streets of the capital and the safety of high visitors. Berlin police will be supported these days by forces from neighboring states, while 20 trained dogs will check areas and cars for explosives.

King Charles was due to visit Paris before Berlin, but his plans were canceled due to strike action in the French capital.