Berlin, Europe Brief News – King Charles III landed in Germany with the Queen Consort for his first overseas state visit as monarch.
The visit came after his Paris visit was postponed last week over pension protests.
Arriving at Berlin Brandenburg Airport on Wednesday afternoon local time for the start of their three-day visit, they were welcomed with a gun salute as two military jets carried out a fly past.
German officials greeted the King and Queen Consort when they stepped off the plane.
The trip should have started on Sunday in France but the first leg was scrapped amid strikes and civil unrest in the country over President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms.
The French leader said Friday his government would have lacked “common sense” to proceed amid the protests, before suggesting the trip could be rescheduled for the beginning of summer.
The trip will see German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Budenbender, roll out the red carpet for the visiting monarch.
They will greet King Charles and Camilla with a ceremonial welcome with full military honors at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. The royal couple will later be guests of honor at a state banquet at Schloss Bellevue, the official residence of the German president.
Crowds – some holding flags or wearing repurposed Burger King crowns – were gathering at the capital’s Brandenburg Gate hours before the King’s arrival.
