The King and Queen will receive German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Windsor Castle on Wednesday for a Christmas-themed state visit featuring a grand banquet in St George’s Hall.
The evening celebration for President Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Budenbender, will take place beneath a six-metre Nordmann fir decorated with 3,000 lights and gold-and-green ornaments that reaches the hall’s vaulted ceiling. Garlands will drape the balconies as approximately 160 guests gather around a 50-metre mahogany table stretching the hall’s full length. Guests will enjoy a custom cocktail designed for the occasion—a practice the King introduced.
The visit marks the first by a German head of state to Britain in 27 years. Windsor’s streets have been adorned with oversized German and British flags, while the Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix holiday special, With Love, Meghan, debuts the same day.
The royal family’s own German ancestry traces back to the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, renamed Windsor by King George V in 1917 during wartime anti-German sentiment.
The Prince and Princess of Wales will greet the German visitors at Heathrow on Wednesday morning before accompanying them to Windsor. Unlike former President Donald Trump’s September visit, which avoided public appearances, President Steinmeier and Ms Budenbender will travel by carriage through Windsor’s streets to the castle for a ceremonial quadrangle welcome.
President Steinmeier will meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street Wednesday afternoon and participate in a UK-German business roundtable. The visit coincides with Mercedes announcing a £20 million electric vehicle technology project creating 150 jobs in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, with £10 million in government support, aimed at developing compact, high-power electric drive systems.
The visit builds on July’s Kensington Treaty between the two nations, which includes enhanced school exchanges, shared passport e-gates, exploration of direct rail connections, and strengthened cooperation on trade, security, and defence. Germany recently enacted legislation criminalizing gangs that supply boats for illegal Channel crossings.
On Thursday, President Steinmeier will address Parliament—an opportunity not afforded to President Trump—and privately pay respects at Queen Elizabeth II’s tomb in St George’s Chapel before joining a Big Help Out reception highlighting community volunteering.
Friday’s schedule includes a visit with the Duke of Kent to Coventry Cathedral’s ruins, where they’ll lay a wreath commemorating the 85th anniversary of the November 1940 Coventry Blitz, which claimed 568 lives and destroyed the original cathedral.
This represents the King’s third incoming state visit this year, following President Emmanuel Macron in July and President Trump in September. Despite ongoing cancer treatment, Charles maintains an active schedule. His 2023 state visit to Germany marked his first foreign trip as monarch, where he became the first British sovereign to address the Bundestag in German.
Photos credits: Bestimage
