German president receives royal welcome in first state visit to UK in 27 years

Original article by Caroline Davies

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier was welcomed with military pomp, a 41-gun royal salute and a celebratory oversized Royal Standard flag flown above Windsor Castle on the first state visit by a German leader to the UK in 27 years.

King Charles and Queen Camilla accompanied the president and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, on a carriage ride through Windsor’s streets at the start of the three-day visit, which will also see the German leader pay a poignant visit to the ruins of Coventry cathedral, bombed during the second world war.

The visit comes at a difficult time for Europe in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine, and will aim to underscore the Kensington treaty, signed in July as the first formal pact between the UK and Germany since the second world war, and which sets out plans for closer cooperation on migration, defence, trade and education.

At 10 Downing Street, before holding private talks with prime minister Keir Starmer, Steinmeier said the UK-German relationship was in “far better shape” than in the “difficult” post-Brexit period, and relations had improved with the Kensington treaty.

“We have a new security situation in Europe, if not in the whole world. So therefore there is a need of closer cooperation. But we were talking also about economic and closer ties between our companies, about the exchange of people. So therefore, after some years with growing difficulties after 2016 I think we are in a far better shape and we have to engage in improving the situation and coming closer in this changing world with new threats to all of us,” he said.

Starmer said the two counties had “worked very, very closely on hugely important issues like Ukraine, where our two countries think alike and act alike, on issues of migration and on economic growth and trade, where we go from strength to strength.”

Steinmeier will also address parliamentarians during his stay.

The visiting couple were attending a lavish state banquet on Wednesday evening in Windsor Castle’s St George’s Hall, with the room decorated with a six-metre Christmas tree featuring 3,000 lights and echoing the German Christmas tradition popularised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

In the traditional exchange of gifts Charles presented the president with a handmade walking stick from the Isle of Mull and a decorative slipware plate, and in return received an umbrella and a specially made cheese.

Campaign group Republic said protesters in Windsor were threatened with arrest if they held a “Charles, what are you hiding?” banner as the state visit procession passed through, as they protested over the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor controversy.

The anti-monarchy group accused Thames Valley police of an attack on free speech, to which the force said they had “facilitated a peaceful protest” and officers had “asked them to step back to our designated protest area” and had stopped them using a loudhailer when horses were nearby.