Regarding the royal visit, Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher said, ‘The visit of King Charles III and his wife Camilla is a sign of the solidarity between Germany and Great Britain in difficult times. The fact that the royal couple is visiting Hamburg right after German capital Berlin is a great honour for the city and a strong boost for our economic, scientific and cultural relations with the United Kingdom. We are also delighted to welcome Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Elke Büdenbender back to Hamburg. It will be a special day for our city.’
Royal couple in Hamburg
Mayor Tschentscher and his wife, Eva Maria Tschentscher, will welcome King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla as well as President Steinmeier and Elke Büdenbender upon their arrival at Dammtor railway station at noon on Friday. Together they will visit the memorial Kindertransport - Der letzte Abschied (lit. ‘Kindertransport - The Last Farewell’). In 2003, King Charles inaugurated the counterpart to the Hamburg memorial at London's Liverpool Street station: Kindertransport - The Arrival.
This visit will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at one of Hamburg’s other important sights of remembrance: the St. Nikolai memorial. The former main church of St. Nikolai was destroyed during British and American air raids in 1943.
Reception at Rathausmarkt at 1 p.m.
Around 1 pm, onlookers will have the opportunity to witness the arrival of the royal couple at the Rathausmarkt in front of Hamburg’s City Hall. Afterwards, the royal couple will sign the city's ‘Golden Book’.
In the afternoon, Mayor Tschentscher, President Steinmeier and King Charles will take a harbour tour with a focus on the decarbonisation of the maritime economy, the promotion of renewable energies and hydrogen technology, and the environmentally and climate-friendly transformation of industry, during which they will talk to representatives of the port.
Meanwhile, the Queen Consort, together with Elke Büdenbender and Eva Maria Tschentscher, will visit the Rudolf Ross Primary School, which takes a bilingual approach to education with classes taught in both German and English. There they will meet, among others, the illustrator Axel Scheffler. The Hamburg-born children's book author and illustrator lives in London and is well known for his illustrations in the children's book The Gruffalo.
The state visit will end with a reception hosted by the British Embassy.
Livestream
We will be broadcasting the royal couple's visit and their signing of the Golden Book of the City of Hamburg in a livestream.