The British King Charles III. and his wife Camilla continue their three-day state visit to Germany on Friday. In the morning, the royal couple will take a regular ICE train from Berlin to Hamburg together with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender. First point of visit there: the monument “Kindertransport – the last farewell”.
The bronze sculpture commemorates the predominantly Jewish children who were sent to Great Britain during the Nazi era. This is followed by a joint wreath-laying ceremony at the St. Nikolai memorial. The church was destroyed during British and American air raids on Hamburg in 1943.
Around 1 p.m. there will be an opportunity for a meeting with citizens in front of Hamburg City Hall, where the royal couple will be signing the Golden Book. In the afternoon, the German Federal President and the King take a boat trip in the harbor while Elke Büdenbender and Queen Camilla visit the bilingual Rudolf Roß Elementary School. The state visit ends with a reception hosted by the British Embassy.
It is Charles’ first trip abroad in his new role as king, which he assumed after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September. He arrived in Berlin with Camilla on Wednesday. On Thursday, the king gave a speech in the German Bundestag.
The day before Charles’ visit, the town hall of the northern German Hanseatic city was spray-painted orange by climate activists from the Last Generation group. They distributed the paint filled in fire extinguishers on Thursday morning at the main portal on Rathausmarkt, as the group announced and dpa reporters confirmed.