Thursday, 25 June 2015

The Queen in Berlin, Day One

There was a minor moment when the woman who has received more presents that quite possibly the rest of the world put together seemed rather unimpressed with her latest gift. But she rallied, as did her host, and it was plain sailing - literally - from that moment on. The Queen's first full day of her latest State Visit to Germany was just about picture perfect.


The Queen greets Angela Merkel during the first day of the State Visit to Germany
(photo UK in Germany Twitter)

Just not portrait perfect. The pressie which caused raised eyebrows was a specially commissioned painting of a famous photo of the Queen, as Princess Elizabeth, on a favourite pony with her father at her side. In this rendition the horse has a slight, well, blue tinge to it prompting  a royal question of it being rather an unusual colour for the animal. But the best moment came when the Queen, master of diplomacy, asked 'is that meant to be my father?' Her host, President Joachim Gauck, replied 'don't you recognise him?' Big mistake. The answer was 'no'.




Things got better after that. Prince Philip is obviously like every other husband and dad in the world and quite happy with a box of marzipan as a present. The royal couple gave the President a four volume set of writings by a German prince about his tour of Britain, Ireland and France. There was no audible comment on that.



The gift giving was part of the official welcome which took place at Schloss Bellevue in Berlin as the three day tour got under way. The Queen had arrived in the German capital the night before and after a stay at the city's Adlon hotel was at the official residence of the German President as the grey morning dawned for a packed day of engagements.


 


One of the highlights of the day was a boat trip down the River Spree and clearly sensing rain, the Queen chose the white coat and hat with crystal embellishments worn for the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant which was, famously, one of the wettest days on record. The weather wasn't quite so bad this time round and the choice of white helped the Queen stand out against the cloudy skies as thousands of people lined the route to catch a glimpse of her.


 
 

It was a truly impressive turnout and shows the massive interest there is in Germany over this State Visit, her fifth during her 63 year reign. It seemed that most of Berlin wanted to catch a glimpse of 'die Queen' as she made her way to a meeting with the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.



Mrs Merkel has a reputation for calm, cool toughness but she seemed to momentarily lose that when she met her royal guests. As they sat down to tea and biscuits she almost seemed lost for words. And there was another very royal response when she offered the Queen a cuppa - 'would you like a cup of tea?' she asked to which there was only one reply 'of course'.



In a video posted on Twitter by one of Mrs Merkel's aides, the two women are shown chatting in German while the Chancellor traces the route of the Berlin Wall and tells her guest where she used to live. The Queen follows the tour with deep interest and the brief chat is an insight into what goes on during State visits. It is easy to presume its all light small talk but the personal story told here and the deep interest shown in it demonstrates a more intimate and human side.


The afternoon saw a reunion of Queen and President as they travelled to Berlin Technical University which had been ready to welcome Elizabeth II for days.


(photo British Monarchy Instagram)

Perhaps Joachim Gauck had stopped off at the gift shop on his way in but the two seemed on very good terms as they settled down to listen to the Queen's Lecture, an annual event gifted by the royal guest on her first visit to Berlin in 1965.  The room was filled with students eager to get a glimpse of 'die Queen' with some waving union flags as she took her seat. And she was definitely amused by the lecture, smiling when an excuse was found to show the famous footage of her with James Bond from the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2012.




President Gauck may have had to get his credit card out at the university as well for his guest seemed thrilled with a robot which performed for her. If he was still in any doubt about possible future presents for her then the glee on her face as the invention did its thing must have been a clue hard to miss.

 

 The day ended with that staple of State Visits, the State Banquet, which was held at Schloss Bellevue with the Queen in white and some rather magnificent rubies.




During her speech, she talked of the importance of Europe and of unity  and seemed to hint that it would be wise for Britain to remain within the EU. Its a topic occupying another of the guests, David Cameron, rather a lot right now following his promise to hold a referendum on whether the UK should stay in the Union.

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And her respect for President Gauck shone through as she made a subtle reference to his earlier life when he was a civil rights activist in then Eastern Germany. She told him 'In our lives, Mr President, we have seen the worst but also the best of our continent. We have witnessed how quickly things can change for  the better. But we know that we must work hard to maintain the benefits of the postwar world.' In perhaps her most direct comment yet on the debate that faces Britain over continued EU membership she went on 'we know that division in Europe is dangerous and that we must guard against it in the west as well as in the east of our continent'.


Angela Merkel, sitting on the Queen's table, appeared to nod throughout those comments. It was a show stopping end to a show stopping first day. And as the stars of the show went their separate ways, the blue horse seemed long forgotten.
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