BERLIN (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II met Germany’s president on the first official stop on her three-day state visit before boarding an open-topped boat for a picturesque ride along the Spree River in Berlin.
The 89-year-old monarch and her husband Prince Philip, 94, were greeted at Berlin’s Bellevue Palace by President Joachim Gauck, Germany’s head of state, and his partner, Daniela Schadt.
They signed a guest book before going back outside and shaking hands with dignitaries and others.
Elizabeth then strolled across the grounds with Gauck for a formal greeting by a military honor guard and band that played ‘God Save the Queen’ as well as the German national anthem.
Earlier, the British royals were met by waving crowds outside the Hotel Adlon, where they stayed overnight, as they walked along a red carpet and climbed inside a Bentley limousine to take them through the city. The iconic luxury British car brand Bentley was taken over by Germany’s Volkswagen in 1998.
Elizabeth was to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel later in the day, among other events on a packed schedule.
Thursday will be spent in the financial hub of Frankfurt, with time blocked out for the queen to meet the public in the city’s central square.
On Friday, the royal couple plans to meet with residents of Berlin in Pariser Platz before traveling to Lower Saxony for a visit to the former Nazi Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the British on April 15, 1945, and Elisabeth plans to visit a memorial there and meet with aging survivors and liberators of the camp.
The queen and Philip also made state visits to Germany in May 1965, May 1978, October 1992 and November 2004.
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