King Charles III he recently landed at Berlin airport on his first official visit abroad as monarch and was greeted with a salute and cannon fire. His three-day stay in Germany aims to highlight the special nature of German-British relations, with an emphasis on post-war reconciliation and shared climate protection goals.

In proof of the importance that the German side attaches to the visit, in a short time, in the presence of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, military honors will be given to the king at the Brandenburg Gate and not, as usual, at the presidential palace Bellevue. It is the first time since the reunification of Germany that such a thing has been done in honor of a foreign head of state. Later tonight, Frank-Walter Steinmeier will host a formal dinner, to which current and former politicians have been invited, as well as artists with special ties to Britain.

Tomorrow Charles III will address the plenary session of the Federal Parliament. It remains unknown whether he will choose to speak in German, as he did in an earlier visit, referring to his family’s German roots. Accompanied by Mr. Steinmeier, he will visit a German-British military unit in Brandenburg, while he will meet with citizens, Germans and British, but also – according to his wish – with refugees from Ukraine who are being hosted in Berlin. The two leaders will also visit an ecological village near the capital and will be informed about new technologies in environmentally friendly cultivation. On Friday, they will travel by train to Hamburg, where they will lay a wreath at the ruins of the church of Agios Nikolaos – a monument dedicated to the victims of the Second World War and in particular to the 42,600 dead from the British-American bombings of 1943, as part of the “Gomorrah” operation.

Around 2,000 police officers will be deployed to guard the visit of Charles III and royal wife Camilla to Germany, while the highest level of security protocol is being followed.