NOVEMBER 14, 2020
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany in 2019. – Michele Tantussi – Getty Images
When Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall attend the Central Remembrance Ceremony in Berlin on Sunday November 15 it will be the first time a British royal has been present at Germany’s national day of mourning. And the Prince will deliver a key speech in English and German where he is expected to speak of standing “alongside each other” and striving for a “better tomorrow.”
Prince Charles and Camilla flew into Germany’s capital today ahead of the commemorations tomorrow on the newly-decorated RAF Voyager, which has been painted with a Union Jack and the words United Kingdom. The Prince is making the trip at the request of the British Government as Britain prepares to become independent from the European Union at the end of this year following a post-Brexit transition period.
Clarence House said in a statement last week when the trip was announced that this year’s commemorations will “focus on the German-British friendship, which has grown in the 75 years since the end of the Second World War.” Germany’s national day of mourning remembers all victims of war and tyranny, and Charles’s speech will be about remembrance as well as the friendship between the two countries.
“We must be resolute in addressing acts of unspeakable cruelty against people for reasons of their religion, their race or their beliefs, wherever they occur in the world. We must stand alongside each other in determined defence of the future we owe our children and our grandchildren,” Prince Charles is planning to say during the service at the Bundestag, the German parliament.
He is expected to continue: “The challenges to that future are manifest – whether from this dreadful pandemic which threatens not just our public health but our prosperity and security; or from the existential threat to our planet, and our way of life, from climate change and catastrophic biodiversity loss.”
The Prince will say that these crises “demand that we act together,” adding that the partnership between the United Kingdom and Germany “offers such a vital opportunity in this regard. We are heavily invested in each other’s futures, such that our national interests, whilst distinct, will always be entwined.”
Describing the future as a “new chapter in our long history,” Charles will call to “reaffirm our bond for the years ahead.” He is expected to say: “Let us reflect on all that we have been through together, and all that we have learned. Let us remember all victims of war, tyranny and persecution; those who laid down their lives for the freedoms we cherish, and those who struggle for these freedoms to this day. They inspire us to strive for a better tomorrow – let us make this our common cause.”
Prince William and Prince Charles at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony this year. – WPA Pool – Getty Images
The trip follows the royal family’s appearance en masse at at the Remembrance Sunday service in central London. The annual event was scaled back because of the COVID-19 pandemic but 10 royals attended in person to pay their respects to the war dead alongside a small number of veterans and representatives from government and the military.
Prince Charles has visited Germany more than 30 times both publicly and privately, with his first visit taking place in 1962 and his most recent in 2019 with Camilla.
Courtesy/Source: Town&Country
