Why the King’s address to the German parliament was so significant

It may have been chance that made Germany the destination for King Charles’s first and only state visit before his coronation. But the seeds of a new special relationship may have been sown, writes Mary Dejevsky

On the second day, the King was invited to deliver an address to the Bundestag – an honour never accorded to the Queen (AP)

That King Charles should be making the first state visit of his monarchy to Germany is a diplomatic accident of the sort that is not supposed to happen. It could, though, turn out to be a happy one.

The King had planned to make what were essentially “twin” visits to France and Germany. It was a careful orchestration, designed at once to start fence-mending with the EU after Brexit and to signal that the two countries are of prime significance to the UK – but that France might have the very slightest edge, by virtue of history, geography and defence ties.

Then France dropped out. Or at least, Emmanuel Macron judged – correctly – that the unrest triggered by his effort to raise the state pension age was hardly conducive to a successful state visit, especially when the schedule was to include a full-dress state banquet at Versailles.