Britain and Germany were once great allies on the battlefield - as this week's 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo showed.
But relations between the neighbours obviously deteriorated in the early 20th century when the Germans suffered humiliating defeats against the British in both World Wars.
And the bad-tempered relationship between Europe's two largest economies hasn't looked like calming down with German media not looking too favourably on the fact that - horror of horrors! - the British people are to democratically decide in a referendum whether or not Britain should remain in the EU.
Now the Queen is to make a state visit to Germany next week - her fifth - and it is something that the German media have been gripped by. In fact, her impending visit has sent Germany into an untypical bout of enthusiasm about all things British.
What the Germans really think of the British royal family
As the Queen prepares for a state visit to Germany next week, newspapers have been gripped by every obscure detail of her tour
A giant portrait of Queen Elizabeth II at the Technische Universitaet (Technical University) in Berlin, Germany Photo: AP/Michael Sohn
By Justin Huggler, Berlin
20 Jun 2015
The Telegraph
A state visit by the Queen planned for next week has sent Germany into an untypical bout of enthusiasm for all things British.
For days, newspapers have been gripped by every obscure detail of the visit, down to the fact that the British ambassador’s lawn has been specially cleared of daisies ahead of a royal garden party.
Details of a four-page guide to royal protocol issued to guests have been gleefully reported – including a strict injunction against trying to take a selfie with Her Majesty.
Workers unfurl a large banner of Queen Elizabeth II above the entrance to the Technical University of Berlin (Reuters)
Germany’s biggest-selling newspaper, Bild ("Picture"), has even tried to stake a claim to the Royal Family, running a lengthy feature on their German ancestry under the headline “How German is the Queen?”
It is a far cry from the usual portrayal of Britain in the German media, which is dominated by a highly critical view of the referendum on EU membership and David Cameron’s demands for reform.
Large crowds are expected to turn out to meet the Queen at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday.
The Queen will be in Berlin from June 23
But there is more than mutual affection behind what will be the fifth state visit of her reign to Germany, according to Bild.
“There are very concrete reasons why 10 Downing Street has so often sent the Queen to Germany,” the newspaper’s columnist and royal expert, Alexander von Schönburg, wrote.
“Relations between our two countries have traditionally been tricky...Two world wars have left deep wounds. On both sides...
“London is afraid of a Europe where Britain sits at the children’s table and policy is decided by Berlin and Paris – before fusing the EU into a superstate, in which the individual states lose their autonomy.
“And who is the secret weapon of British diplomacy, to stir up the Franco-German love affair? The Queen.”
The Royal Family are highly popular in Germany despite the troubled history with Britain. Royal births and marriages are assiduously followed, and even the Queen’s speech at the opening of parliament is reported.
When the British Embassy ran a competition to find four ordinary Germans as guests for the royal garden party that will be held during the state visit, there was no shortage of contestants.
To qualify, they had to have made a lasting contribution to Anglo-German relations.
One of the winners, Ingrid Baitz, an English teacher, told Berliner Zeitung ("Berliner Newspaper") newspaper she was so excited at the prospect of meeting the Queen that “Nothing better can happen in the near future”.
Another, Martin Lengemann, a photographer, is such an ardent Anglophile he has a Union Flag emblem on his car.
Mr Lengemann told Die Welt ("The World") newspaper how his great-grandfather had served in the trenches during the First World War, and encountered a British soldier in no man’s land.
Each should have shot the other, but instead they shared a foxhole until they could crawl back behind their respective front lines.
Part of the appeal of the Royal Family for Germans appears to be the pomp and ceremony.
Mr Lengemann told Welt he was disappointed the relaxed dress code for the garden party at the ambassador’s residence meant he wouldn’t get a chance to wear morning dress.
Perhaps in a nod to modern Germany’s casual dress sense, the Embassy is only requiring lounge suits.
Mr Lengemann told Welt how he first visited Britain in the late seventies.
“London was drowning in rubbish, but the men still went to work in pinstripe suits, with briefcase, umbrella and bowler hat,” he said.
“In a gloomy backyard in Camden I bought my first Beatles record, for a pound. It was like a journey into a wonderland where everything is different from home.”
Despite their mistrust of British Euroscepticism, Germans delight in images of traditional British eccentricity.
Dinner For One, a British comedy sketch long forgotten in the UK, has become the most repeated television programme in history – because German television shows it every New Year’s Eve, on more than one channel.
Lego figures representing Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) are placed in front of the Brandenburg Gate made of Lego bricks, in Legoland in Berlin (Reuters)
But there is more to Germany’s fascination with the Royal Family than British pomp and eccentricity.
For one thing, there is the Duke of Edinburgh’s connection with the country.
While Bild revelled in the Queen’s German ancestry, Prince Philip actually went to school in Germany, on the shores of Lake Constance.
But observers say the link goes deeper than that, and that it was the Royal Family who helped heal the divide between Germany and the rest of the world after the Second World War.
“Germany was an outlaw nation until Chancellor Adenauer was allowed to visit the Queen in London in 1951,” Mr von Schönburg wrote.
But it was the Queen’s first state visit to Germany, in 1965, that made the country “acceptable on the diplomatic parquet again”, he added.
That first state visit was exceptionally long, at 11 days. The Queen and Prince Philip visited 18 different German cities, including West Berlin where the Duke waved across the Berlin Wall to the communist east.
In 1965, memories of the Nazi regime were still fresh enough that the German government was worried the crowds might accidentally shout “Heil!” in their enthusiasm for the Queen, the historian Simone Derix told Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
But the visit was an extraordinary success and helped to heal the wounds of war, as huge crowds turned out to cheer the royal couple.
“The heart of the Bavarian people beats for Your Majesty”, Alfons Goppel, the state prime minister of Bavaria, told the Queen when she visited Munich.
Mr Cameron will be hoping next week’s state visit can have a similar galvanising effect of Anglo-German relations.
What the Germans really think of the British royal family - Telegraph
But relations between the neighbours obviously deteriorated in the early 20th century when the Germans suffered humiliating defeats against the British in both World Wars.
And the bad-tempered relationship between Europe's two largest economies hasn't looked like calming down with German media not looking too favourably on the fact that - horror of horrors! - the British people are to democratically decide in a referendum whether or not Britain should remain in the EU.
Now the Queen is to make a state visit to Germany next week - her fifth - and it is something that the German media have been gripped by. In fact, her impending visit has sent Germany into an untypical bout of enthusiasm about all things British.
What the Germans really think of the British royal family
As the Queen prepares for a state visit to Germany next week, newspapers have been gripped by every obscure detail of her tour
A giant portrait of Queen Elizabeth II at the Technische Universitaet (Technical University) in Berlin, Germany Photo: AP/Michael Sohn
By Justin Huggler, Berlin
20 Jun 2015
The Telegraph
A state visit by the Queen planned for next week has sent Germany into an untypical bout of enthusiasm for all things British.
For days, newspapers have been gripped by every obscure detail of the visit, down to the fact that the British ambassador’s lawn has been specially cleared of daisies ahead of a royal garden party.
Details of a four-page guide to royal protocol issued to guests have been gleefully reported – including a strict injunction against trying to take a selfie with Her Majesty.
Workers unfurl a large banner of Queen Elizabeth II above the entrance to the Technical University of Berlin (Reuters)
Germany’s biggest-selling newspaper, Bild ("Picture"), has even tried to stake a claim to the Royal Family, running a lengthy feature on their German ancestry under the headline “How German is the Queen?”
It is a far cry from the usual portrayal of Britain in the German media, which is dominated by a highly critical view of the referendum on EU membership and David Cameron’s demands for reform.
Large crowds are expected to turn out to meet the Queen at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday.
The Queen will be in Berlin from June 23
But there is more than mutual affection behind what will be the fifth state visit of her reign to Germany, according to Bild.
“There are very concrete reasons why 10 Downing Street has so often sent the Queen to Germany,” the newspaper’s columnist and royal expert, Alexander von Schönburg, wrote.
“Relations between our two countries have traditionally been tricky...Two world wars have left deep wounds. On both sides...
“London is afraid of a Europe where Britain sits at the children’s table and policy is decided by Berlin and Paris – before fusing the EU into a superstate, in which the individual states lose their autonomy.
“And who is the secret weapon of British diplomacy, to stir up the Franco-German love affair? The Queen.”
The Royal Family are highly popular in Germany despite the troubled history with Britain. Royal births and marriages are assiduously followed, and even the Queen’s speech at the opening of parliament is reported.
When the British Embassy ran a competition to find four ordinary Germans as guests for the royal garden party that will be held during the state visit, there was no shortage of contestants.
To qualify, they had to have made a lasting contribution to Anglo-German relations.
One of the winners, Ingrid Baitz, an English teacher, told Berliner Zeitung ("Berliner Newspaper") newspaper she was so excited at the prospect of meeting the Queen that “Nothing better can happen in the near future”.
Another, Martin Lengemann, a photographer, is such an ardent Anglophile he has a Union Flag emblem on his car.
Mr Lengemann told Die Welt ("The World") newspaper how his great-grandfather had served in the trenches during the First World War, and encountered a British soldier in no man’s land.
Each should have shot the other, but instead they shared a foxhole until they could crawl back behind their respective front lines.
Part of the appeal of the Royal Family for Germans appears to be the pomp and ceremony.
Mr Lengemann told Welt he was disappointed the relaxed dress code for the garden party at the ambassador’s residence meant he wouldn’t get a chance to wear morning dress.
Perhaps in a nod to modern Germany’s casual dress sense, the Embassy is only requiring lounge suits.
Mr Lengemann told Welt how he first visited Britain in the late seventies.
“London was drowning in rubbish, but the men still went to work in pinstripe suits, with briefcase, umbrella and bowler hat,” he said.
“In a gloomy backyard in Camden I bought my first Beatles record, for a pound. It was like a journey into a wonderland where everything is different from home.”
Despite their mistrust of British Euroscepticism, Germans delight in images of traditional British eccentricity.
Dinner For One, a British comedy sketch long forgotten in the UK, has become the most repeated television programme in history – because German television shows it every New Year’s Eve, on more than one channel.
Lego figures representing Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) are placed in front of the Brandenburg Gate made of Lego bricks, in Legoland in Berlin (Reuters)
But there is more to Germany’s fascination with the Royal Family than British pomp and eccentricity.
For one thing, there is the Duke of Edinburgh’s connection with the country.
While Bild revelled in the Queen’s German ancestry, Prince Philip actually went to school in Germany, on the shores of Lake Constance.
But observers say the link goes deeper than that, and that it was the Royal Family who helped heal the divide between Germany and the rest of the world after the Second World War.
“Germany was an outlaw nation until Chancellor Adenauer was allowed to visit the Queen in London in 1951,” Mr von Schönburg wrote.
But it was the Queen’s first state visit to Germany, in 1965, that made the country “acceptable on the diplomatic parquet again”, he added.
That first state visit was exceptionally long, at 11 days. The Queen and Prince Philip visited 18 different German cities, including West Berlin where the Duke waved across the Berlin Wall to the communist east.
In 1965, memories of the Nazi regime were still fresh enough that the German government was worried the crowds might accidentally shout “Heil!” in their enthusiasm for the Queen, the historian Simone Derix told Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
But the visit was an extraordinary success and helped to heal the wounds of war, as huge crowds turned out to cheer the royal couple.
“The heart of the Bavarian people beats for Your Majesty”, Alfons Goppel, the state prime minister of Bavaria, told the Queen when she visited Munich.
Mr Cameron will be hoping next week’s state visit can have a similar galvanising effect of Anglo-German relations.
What the Germans really think of the British royal family - Telegraph
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