Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, has arrived in Germany on a four-day visit. Britain's royals are descendants of Germany's Saxe-Coburg-Gotha families. The prince said: "The bonds between us must endure."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
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Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, arrived at Berlin Tegel Airport and were greeted by a guard of honor on Tuesday. They then went to the Federal Chancellery, where they met Angela Merkel.
The 70-year-old, who is next in line to the British throne, then met German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, before going to the Berlin Airlift Memorial with the mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller.
In a speech delivered in English and German on Tuesday evening, Charles said the ties between the UK and Germany should remain strong in the future — an indirect reference to Britain's pending departure from the European Union.
"Whatever the shape of our future relationship, and whatever is negotiated and agreed between governments and institutions, it is more clear for me than it has ever been that the bonds between us will and must endure," the prince said.
Prince Charles and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
"We are friends and natural partners, bound by common experiences, interests and values, and our futures are deeply entwined," he added, commenting on his family's roots in the German aristocracy.
The royals arrived in Germany a day after Charles' younger son, Prince Harry, announced that he and his wife, Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, have had their first child, a baby boy. Charles told crowds that he "couldn't be more delighted" at the news and that he and Camilla "are looking forward to meeting the baby when we return."
The couple are due to visit Leipzig on Wednesday and Munich on Thursday.
Queen Elizabeth II in Bonn with Germany's then President Heinrich Lübke (1965)Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Rehm
German genealogy
Charles' great-great-great-grandfather Prince Albert, was born 200 years ago in 1819 in Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. When he was 20, he married his first cousin Queen Victoria and they went on to have nine children before Albert died in Windsor in 1861.
Britain's royal family was previously known by the German names Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In 1917, King George V adopted the name Windsor in response to widespread anti-German sentiment during World War I. The present House of Windsor has family ties with most of the monarchs in Europe.
The queen visited Germany for the first time in May 1965 and has returned several times since. During her inaugural visit, she spent 11 days touring Germany, including stops in the then-capital, Bonn, and also in Berlin and 16 other cities.
The British royal family are hugely popular in Germany, which, in the absence of its own royal household, has a celebrity media focus on those European nations that have prominent ones.
In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II visits Germany
Europe's most famous and longest reigning monarch makes her fifth visit to Germany. During a three-day-trip, the queen is to meet the top dignitaries and pay respects to victims of the Nazis.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/R. Michael
Military honors for the British queen
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, started their visit in Berlin on Tuesday evening, with the British monarch welcomed by a 21-gun salute and military jets flying overhead.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
If Berlin streets could talk...
Fans of British royalty took to the streets of Berlin to try and catch a glimpse of the queen on her way to the Hotel Adlon. Here the royal Bentley passes the famous Brandenburg Gate.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
Getting comfortable
After arriving to Berlin on Tuesday evening, the queen's entourage probably didn't have a difficult time finding their rooms overlooking the Brandenburg Gate. The Hotel Adlon flew the royal standard the queen's suite.
Image: Reuters/W. Rattay
A heavy escort
Berlin police said it would deploy close to 1,500 officers to keep the queen safe, during her first visit to Germany in a decade.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fischer
A morning stroll with the German president
Wednesday's first meeting saw Queen Elizabeth be received by German head of state Joachim Gauck in the president's residence, Bellevue Castle.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
British weather for a Berlin cruise
After meeting President Gauck, the queen and her husband took a cruise down Berlin's Spree River in an open-topped boat.
Image: Reuters/P. Kopczynski
A marriage for the times
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, have been married since 1947, six years before the queen's coronation. The Duke of Edinburgh turned 94 in June.
Image: Reuters/H. Hanschke
The most powerful women in Europe?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the queen on at the Chancellery. Merkel also had a meeting scheduled with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Moments of remembrance
The queen laid a wreath at Neue Wache, the Berlin's memorial site for the victims of war and violence. On Thursday, the Queen and her husband will visit the former Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, which was liberated by British troops in April 1945.
