Queen Margrethe and Crown Prince Frederik: Denmark’s Royals are on a state visit to Berlin
Queen Margrethe and Crown Prince Frederik
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Denmark’s Royals are on a state visit to Berlin
Royal visit to Berlin: Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II and Crown Prince Frederik are guests in the capital. After the start with Federal President Steinmeier, visits to the Charité, the Brandenburg Gate and the Humboldt Forum are still on the agenda.
The Danish Queen Margrethe II arrived in Germany on Wednesday for a four-day state visit. The Queen landed at Berlin’s BER airport together with her son, Crown Prince Frederik.
At the start of the four-day trip, they were greeted by Federal President Frank Bellevue and Federal President Frank Ehren. After playing the national anthems, both heads of state step down from the armed forces’ honorary formation. Steinmeier and Margrethe withdrew to talk.
From culture to business
The queen, dressed in a powder blue costume with a hat of the same color, signed the guest book of Bellevue Palace. In the evening, the Federal President will hold a state banquet in her honor. Steinmeier and Margrethe had only seen each other in Denmark in mid-June when they celebrated the peaceful demarcation between Denmark and Germany in 1920. Steinmeier described this as groundbreaking for the understanding between the two countries.
The program of the Danish royals ranges from cultural visits to meetings with business representatives. After the visit to Bellevue Palace, on Wednesday we went to the Charité hospital in Berlin, where Queen Margarethe wanted to find out more about the history and new projects of the largest university hospital in Europe.
Walk through the Brandenburg Gate
This is followed by a meeting with the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) as well as the usual walk through the Brandenburg Gate on state visits. In front of the Neue Wache, the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny, the Danish queen and her son want to lay a wreath. The two are accompanied by the Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod and a delegation of 52 business representatives.
The good relationship was irritated by wiretapping
Political relations between Germany and Denmark are considered free. However, previous annual reports on a wiretapping affair caused irritation in Berlin in May. According to this, the US secret service NSA, with Danish help, had eavesdropped on German and other top European politicians, including Chancellor Merkel and Steinmeier, when he was foreign minister. The Danish government itself called this “unacceptable” at the time.
The Queen’s current visit should have taken place last year, but was postponed due to the corona. Margrethe and Frederik will stay in Berlin until Friday. Then the queen will travel to Munich alone.
Broadcast: evening show, 11/10/2021, 7:30 p.m.