Already after her dinner speech at the banquet on her first state visit to Germany in 1974, the FAZ acknowledged that the Danish Queen Margrethe II spoke “in almost accent-free German” and so she did on Wednesday evening, 47 years later. Though her eyes were fixed closely on the manuscript in her hands. In honor of the Queen, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier invited people to dinner at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, and since such a meal calls for table speeches, 81-year-old Margrethe II stood at the narrow lectern in her long, deep green dress and with a tiara on her head in front of the imposingly laid tables and praised, as she had also discussed 47 years ago, how well relations between Germany and Denmark had developed. And that,after she herself grew up at a time when relationships were subject to a “certain skepticism”. Denmark suffered under German occupation during World War II. But the borders between the two countries have long been a "living bridge".

Matthias Wyssuwa

Political correspondent for Northern Germany and Scandinavia based in Hamburg.

  • Follow I follow

The Danish Queen has been on a state visit to Germany with her son, the 53-year-old Crown Prince Frederik, since Wednesday. It is her first ever since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. Even before dinner that evening, Steinmeier had received her at the castle with military honors, after which the queen visited the Charité hospital and then had a conversation with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Further appointments followed closely on Thursday, such as the opening of the Danish trade conference in Berlin and a visit to the Pierre Boulez concert hall. There are two main themes of the state visit: economy and culture. On Thursday evening, a reception was scheduled in the German Historical Museum, this time given by the Queen and the Crown Prince in honor of the Federal President and Elke Büdenbender, his wife.

At the banquet in Bellevue Palace on Wednesday evening, soldiers from the guard regiment stood on the paths in front of the palace with torches. After their arrival, the Queen waited in the castle, sitting, and the Crown Prince, Steinmeier and Büdenbender, standing and watched by many cameras, until the guests had marched past them. From then on, exclusively for guests and hosts, we continued into the hall for banquets, dinner speeches and four courses. From the light brown trout to the intense Brandenburg country duck, pink and braised, to sweet rump plums with poppy seeds and iced nougat milk. At the table in the center of the banquet sat on one side of the queen the woman with the highest office in Germany, President of the Bundestag Bärbel Bas, and on the other Büdenbender.In addition to Steinmeier and the Crown Prince, the health ministers of both countries, Magnus Heunicke and Jens Spahn, could be observed in lively exchange at the table. People from politics, sport, culture and society from both countries were seated at the other tables in the hall, from artists, diplomats or the goalkeeper of the Danish national handball team to the Danish mayor of the most beautiful German city on the Baltic coast: Claus Ruhe Madsen from Rostock.or the goalkeeper of the Danish national handball team to the Danish mayor of the most beautiful German city on the Baltic coast: Claus Ruhe Madsen from Rostock.or the goalkeeper of the Danish national handball team to the Danish mayor of the most beautiful German city on the Baltic coast: Claus Ruhe Madsen from Rostock.

Steinmeier: "Close and trusting friendship"

The Federal President opened his dinner speech with a welcome in Danish, before he also praised the relations between the two countries in German: “The miracle that succeeded on both sides of this border, especially after 1945, is the pledge of our friendship to this day,” he said . The dividing line has become a strong bond over the years and decades. “The border between Denmark and Germany also stands for the great fortune of Germans to be able to call our neighbors friends today.” Steinmeier also praised the role of the queen herself, the “like no other head of state in Europe” the ups and downs of the European project have witnessed. In the coming year she will celebrate the 50th anniversary of her reign."You, dear Queen Margrethe, played a major role in the fact that relations between Germany and Denmark have developed into a close and trusting friendship during the decades of this reign." And then the Federal President exclaimed: "Skål!"

On Friday the Queen will travel to Munich before heading back to Denmark on Saturday.

In Bavaria, however, there will be no further state banquet in her honor in the Munich Residenz.

Because of the increasing number of corona infections, Prime Minister Markus Söder canceled it on Thursday.

The 3-G rule applied at Bellevue Palace.