The late English Queen Elizabeth II visited Hesse twice.

In May 1965 she honored herself in Wiesbaden as part of an eleven-day journey through the still young Federal Republic.

50 years later, during her four-day visit to Germany, the Queen made a four-hour stop in Frankfurt, where she visited the Paulskirche and dined with 120 personalities from Hesse in the Kaisersaal of the town hall.

Her first journey was a triumph for the then 39-year-old Elisabeth: Hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic Germans lined her route and waved little flags.

Students were free in the cities where the Queen was staying.

Television reported live for a total of 50 hours over the eleven days, the radio stations outdid each other with special programs, eight state governments bowed to the Queen, and in 18 cities, including Wiesbaden, she signed the golden book.

A critical observer spoke of the "longest fairy tale hour in the Bonn Republic" - eleven days of love, peace and harmony.

Journey to Prince Philip's Hessian relatives

Half a century later, the Germans' affection for the Queen was still strong, but this time one could not speak of "Queen Mania".

Onlookers waited on Paulsplatz and later in front of the Römer in 2015, but there were only 5,000 to 6,000 who wanted to catch a glimpse of the queen.

They were largely disappointed, because Elisabeth and Prince Philip did not drive up waving in the open Mercedes coupe as in 1965, but invisibly behind the tinted windows of an armored Range Rover.

On a red carpet, they hurried into the Paulskirche without a word of greeting, and even when they appeared on the balcony of the Römer town hall, the royal couple only showed up for two minutes.

Prince Philip's Hessian roots - his mother Victoria Alice von Battenberg had German parents - may have been one of the reasons why the royal couple stayed in Hesse on both visits.

It was hardly mentioned in the reporting that Philip's family was linked to the Nazi regime: his four sisters were all married to German princes, three of whom had close ties to the Nazis: for example Sophie's husband, Margrave Christoph von Hessen, who had been there before 1933 NSDAP member, later promoted to SS-Oberführer and as a protégé of Göring headed the research office in the Reich Ministry of Aviation.

Incidentally, in 1965, after their stop in Wiesbaden, Elisabeth and Philip visited their relatives, Prince Ludwig of Hesse and near the Rhine and his wife Margaret, in Wolfsgarten Castle near Langen.

Make good weather at the chancellor

For Germany, the Queen's visit in 1965 meant international reputation at a time when other countries still had reservations about the Germans because of their Nazi past.

The British Prime Minister at the time, Harold Macmillan, had promoted the visit of the royal couple against resistance, he speculated on Germany's support for the United Kingdom's accession to the European Economic Community (EEC), which France rejected.

The Queen should make good weather with Chancellor Erhard and his government.

During the second visit in 2015, the question of Europe was also an issue, because Great Britain was heading for a referendum on leaving the European Union, for which a majority actually decided a year later.

At a reception given by Federal President Joachim Gauck in Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Elisabeth warned of a division in Europe.

Hesse's Prime Minister Volker Bouffier, who was seated next to the Queen during the meal in the Römer's Kaisersaal, took up the issue and let Elisabeth know that Germany wanted the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union.

As is well known, the wish did not come true.

Interested in Frankfurt's history

The Auschwitz trial was taking place in Frankfurt during her first trip to Germany in 1965.

But the dark German past was not an issue for the royal couple at the time.

On the second visit, however, the Queen read the Germans the riot act by pointing out that the democratic awakening of 1848, for which the Paulskirche stands, was a "false dawn".

It took defeats in two of the most terrible wars in history to put Germany on the path to democracy, Elisabeth informed her hosts.

The Queen also visited the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, which was liberated by British troops in 1945.

Frankfurt's Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann has fond memories of the Queen's visit in 2015. She stretched out her hand to him in the Paulskirche and he took it, Feldmann said afterwards.

The queen was inquisitive and asked him about the history of Frankfurt and the university, he told the journalists.

Later in the Kaisersaal, the Lord Mayor was allowed to chat extensively with his neighbor at the table, Prince Philip.

What they talked about is not known.