Denmark's Queen begins state visit to Berlin

Denmark's Queen Margrethe II and her son Crown Prince Frederik have begun a four-day state visit to Germany, reported dpa.

They were greeted with military honours by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier his Bellevue Palace residence in Berlin on Wednesday.

After the playing of the national anthems, both heads of state walked down the line of honour of the German Armed Forces in bright autumn weather. Steinmeier and Margrethe then retired for a talk.

The queen, who is 81, signed the visitor's book at Bellevue Palace. In the evening, Steinmeier will give a state banquet in her honour.

Later on Wednesday the queen will meet the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and take the walk through the Brandenburg Gate.

She and her son will then lay a wreath in front of the memorial to the victims of war and tyranny.

A visit to the Charité, the largest university hospital in Europe, is also planned.

Steinmeier and Margrethe met in Denmark in mid-June, when they celebrated the peaceful demarcation of the border between Denmark and Germany in 1920. Steinmeier described it at the time as groundbreaking for understanding between the two countries. He said it was a model of how respectfully the German minority in Denmark and the Danish minority in Germany treated each other.

The current visit was supposed to have taken place last year, but was postponed due to the pandemic. Margrethe and Frederik will stay in Berlin until Friday, when the queen will travel on to Munich alone.