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BERLIN (AP) — Give me two horses fit for a queen, please.
That’s the gift Queen Elizabeth II requested during her state visit to Germany in 1978, Der Spiegel reported on Monday.
The expensive gift caught the attention of German bureaucrats at the time, who pointed out that the Holstein and gray horses cost more than any other gift given to visiting heads of state since the end of World War II.
Nonetheless, Der Spiegel reported, citing previously classified archive documents, that German then-president Walter Scheer had approved the gift out of good bilateral relations.
The magazine reported that the paper also noted that late monarch’s Aperitif preference – gin and tonic – not a helicopter.
Records show that the British embassy was concerned that protests might occur if Elizabeth visited Dresden in 1992. In the end she did attend church services and was warmly welcomed by locals in a city that was flattened by Allied air raids during the war, Der Spiegel reported.
Another sensitive issue on the trip is whether Elizabeth will speak in the Bundestag. Der Spiegel reported that then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl raised objections, possibly because of lingering anger over British efforts to prevent German reunification years earlier.
Elizabeth has made a total of five state visits to Germany, Most recently in 2015Although only documents older than 30 years have been published.
The report comes days before Elizabeth’s son King Charles III makes his first state visit to Germany. The Queen had originally planned to visit France first, but plans for that trip were delayed due to anti-government protests in the country.
Charles will be on a three-day visit to Germany from Wednesday to Friday, including stops in Berlin, Brandenburg and Hamburg, as part of diplomatic outreach ahead of his coronation on May 6. Unlike his mother, Charles will be allowed to address the Bundestag on Thursday.
The British royal family has blood ties to Germany. Fearing anti-German sentiment during World War I, the family took the names Saxe-Coburg and Gotha before changing their name to Windsor, shows its german heritage.
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