King Charles uses his own pen in Germany to avoid repeat of accession council fiasco
As the inadvertent hosts of the King’s historic first state visit, Germany had no intention of leaving anything to chance.
Every last detail was planned with military precision, right down to “repeated” checks of the fountain pen His Majesty would use to sign the presidential visitors’ book at Schloss Bellevue in Berlin.
Keen to ensure there would be no repeat of the monarch’s irritable outbursts over pens in the early days of his reign, Kai Baldow, head of protocol in the president’s office, proudly insisted: “Our pen has never failed.”
Such attention to detail would no doubt have paid off. But in the event, the King was unwilling to take any risks and sensibly opted to use his own pen.
The signing, much like the rest of the day, unfolded like clockwork, from the twenty-one gun salute and flypast that greeted the King and Queen as they arrived to the glittering white tie banquet at which the monarch is due to show off his pitch-perfect command of the native language.
The French protests and civil unrest over pension reforms that led to the first leg of the tour being postponed were but a distant memory as the monarch arrived at the Berlin-Brandenburg Government airport shortly after 2pm.
The three-day tour got off to a suitably auspicious start as the RAF Voyager carrying the King and Queen Consort was escorted into the country by German Typhoons.
With the crowd of 1,500 at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin carefully handpicked, the police and security services were leaving nothing to chance.
The only thing they were unable to control was the weather. Having landed in pouring rain, and ominous grey skies, the German newspaper Bild asked: “Did Charles bring the British weather with him?”
The King and Queen were greeted by cheers and a sea of flags as their motorcade swept towards the Brandenburg Gate, where they were met by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elka Büdenbender.
The King was the first foreign head of state since the Second World War to be welcomed to Germany with full ceremonial and military honours at the city landmark.
A symbol of unity - its resonance was not lost as the two heads of state sought to cement ties in a fractured Europe post-Brexit.
After the national anthems and an inspection of the guard of honour, Charles and Camilla separated to greet the crowds.
While most people would not dare tell the King what to do, eight-year-old Hadley Drake had no such qualms, firmly ordering the monarch to “wait” while she took a photograph of him on her brightly-coloured camera, adding: “Hey you, look.”
Perhaps he was just relieved the tour was finally underway, but Charles duly obliged as he chatted to her father.
Elsewhere, the King politely turned down a paper Burger King crown that one man took off his own head and tried to press into the monarch’s hands.
“This is for you if you want it,” he said. But Charles, smiling broadly, replied: “I’m alright.”
The King’s foresight and convictions on climate change were praised at a sustainability reception before the royals were expected as guests of honour at a lavish state banquet hosted by the president and his wife Schloss Bellevue.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, will not be among the 120 guests, a decision said to have been designed to keep the peace within his fractious ruling coalition, allowing each of the three parties to take a lead at different royal events.
A spokesman for the German government said the chancellor did not normally take part in bilateral state banquets but was “looking forward to welcoming King Charles III for a conversation in person” on Thursday.
Instead, vice chancellor Robert Habeck (Green) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (Free Democrat Party) are both due to attend.
Among the 120 guests will be the King’s German cousins Prince Philipp zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the grandson of the late Duke of Edinburgh’s elder sister Princess Margarita, and Bernhard, Margrave of Baden, the grandson of Philip’s sister Princess Theodora.
After a toast by the president, the King will deliver a short address before guests are expected to dine on pickled carp with Erfurt flower cress, beef broth, free-range chicken with mushrooms and spinach tartlet with root vegetables and mushrooms, according to local reports, followed by prunes with East Frisian black tea and sand biscuits, accompanied by liqueur wine from the Ahr.
On Thursday, the King will become the first British monarch to address the Bundestag and will speak in both English and German.
He will also visit a reception centre for Ukrainian war refugees at the former Tegel airport on the outskirts of Berlin and watch a joint German-British engineer battalion, the first combined military unit between the two countries in more than two centuries, lay a B pontoon bridge over the Oder-Havel canal north of Berlin.
The Queen Consort will visit the Komische Oper opera house.
