Prince Charles on Memorial Day: together against “crisis and wars”

For the first time, a British royal, Prince Charles, took part in the Memorial Day commemoration. He spoke of crises around the world – the crown pandemic, climate change. The common struggle “for the good of the world” is all the more important.

On the occasion of this year’s National Day of Mourning, which this time was dedicated to German-British friendship, Prince Charles, a member of the British royal family, attended the ceremony in Berlin for the first time. The heir to the throne highlighted the links between Germany and Great Britain and referred to current “existential challenges” such as the crown pandemic, climate protection, but also his country’s exit from the EU.

“Together we are an indispensable force for the good of the world,” the 72-year-old said in his speech to the Bundestag, alternating between English and German. Both states would “resolutely stand up for values ​​- as advocates of human rights and the rules-based international order around the world.”

Germany and Great Britain as “instinctive solvers”

The world has to struggle with “crises and wars,” said Prince Charles. “Our two countries are instinctive problem solvers who work together to provide innovative and practical solutions to the challenges we face around the world.” He referred to a number of goals for which the policy should work: the global health effort, including the search for a vaccine to fight the coronavirus. But also the protection of biodiversity and forests, the use of renewable energy and clean growth in harmony with climate protection.

Brexit will not break “common ties”

In view of Brexit, Prince Charles was convinced “that the central ties between us will remain strong”. And he added:

“We are so involved in the future of the other country that our national interests – even if they may be different – will always be intertwined”.

Laying the crown at Neuer Wache

Prior to his Bundestag speech, the heir to the British throne, who arrived in Berlin with his wife Camilla that morning, laid a wreath at the Neue Wache in the city center. The Neue Wache has been the central memorial of the Federal Republic for the victims of war and tyranny since 1993. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble, Bundesrat President Reiner Haseloff and Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also took part in the ceremony.

Each year Germany commemorates the victims of war, terrorism, extremism and anti-Semitism on the national day of mourning. National Mourning Day was reintroduced in 1952 at the suggestion of the Volksbund Deutscher Gräberfürsorge. Its origins date back to 1922. Remembrance Day is celebrated every year two weeks before the first Advent.