{"id":605531,"date":"2025-12-01T15:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/605531\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T15:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:43:12","slug":"banquet-bowie-and-football-in-upcoming-german-state-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/605531\/","title":{"rendered":"Banquet, Bowie and football in upcoming German state visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This mirrors a visit to Hamburg during the UK state visit to Germany in 2023, when King Charles laid a wreath remembering the civilian casualties of wartime Allied bombing raids.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The state visit by President Steinmeier and his wife Elke Budenbender, will begin on Wednesday with the traditional formal welcomes and military parades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There will be a carriage ride on the way to Windsor Castle &#8211; which didn&#8217;t take place during the recent US state visit by President Trump, who moved in and out by helicopter, reducing security risks but also any opportunity for protests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A highlight of such visits is the spectacular state banquet in St George&#8217;s Hall, where the King and president will make speeches, with celebrity guests enjoying a showcase dinner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">When in Germany, the King had spoken about the importance of supporting Ukraine, so there will be interest in whether he might raise the subject again, against a background of talks about ending the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Also in Windsor, President Steinmeier will lay flowers at the tomb of the late Queen Elizabeth II in St George&#8217;s Chapel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Sir Keir Starmer will host a meeting with President Steinmeier at Downing Street, along with UK and German business leaders, emphasising the importance of economic ties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It follows the &#8220;Kensington Treaty&#8221; signed this summer between the UK and Germany, which included closer co-operation on defence and plans for easier travel between the two countries, including a direct rail link.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Events will show the cultural links between the countries, including a sleigh designed in 1845 by the German-born Prince Albert, who was married to Queen Victoria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ms Budenbender will visit the Judith Kerr Primary School, in south-east London, to mark the connection to its namesake, Judith Kerr, the German-born author of the children&#8217;s book The Tiger Who Came to Tea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Oxford University will award an honorary degree to President Steinmeier, on a trip where he will learn about medical research at the university.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A visit by President Steinmeier to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will include meeting German footballers in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">And at the V&amp;A East Storehouse, which has put the museum&#8217;s archive on show, the visitors will see the David Bowie Centre, which contains items related to the pop star, such as stage outfits and musical instruments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Bowie had strong associations with Berlin, having lived and worked in the city in the 1970s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This mirrors a visit to Hamburg during the UK state visit to Germany in 2023, when King Charles&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824],"class_list":{"0":"post-605531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}