Prince Charles makes a plea to keep ‘links with Germany’ in soft Brexit hint
PRINCE Charles will make an extraordinary plea for politicians to maintain close links with Germany in what many will see as support for a soft Brexit.
As he begins a tour of Germany with the Duchess of Cornwall he will use a speech in Berlin to acknowledge Britain’s relationship with Europe is “in transition”.
But he will warn that whatever Britain and the EU negotiates, the “bonds” with Germany “must endure”.
And he will express his hope that the two countries can “redouble our commitment to each other and to the ties between us”.
Despite being the most politically outspoken of the royals, the speech marks a rare intervention for Prince Charles on Brexit.
It comes after The Sun revealed earlier this year that The Queen had asked her family to engage publicly to promote compromise and diffuse tensions across the country after identifying it as a crisis issue.
The Queen broke her silence about Brexit in October when she referenced Britain’s “new partnership with Europe” at a state banquet for the Dutch Royal Family.
In January she called on the country to “seek out the common ground” in a veiled reference to Brexit.
Speaking at celebrations for the Queen’s birthday at the British Ambassador’s residence in Berlin Prince Charles will say: “Today, we are so much more than simply neighbours: we are friends and natural partners, bound together by our common experience, mutual interests and shared values, and deeply invested in each other’s futures.
WE HAVE BEEN ‘THROUGH SO MUCH TOGETHER’
“It is a relationship in transition. But whatever the shape of our future relationship, and whatever is negotiated and agreed between governments and institutions, it is more clear to me than it has ever been, that the bonds between us will, and must, endure – and that our young people, and future generations, will have as much cause to cherish those bonds as our generation has had.
“Our countries and our people have been through so much together.
“As we look towards the future, I can only hope that we can also pledge to redouble our commitment to each other and to the ties between us.”
Prince Charles will also speak warmly about his personal connections to Germany – telling the audience how his family “still cherish” the German ties triggered by his great, great, great grandfather Prince Albert, who was born 200 years ago.
He will say: “For some of us, of course, these connections are particularly personal.
“For me there are so many family connections and associations with Germany, as indeed with so many parts of Europe, going back for generations.”
Prince Charles will add: “This year, for instance, we celebrate the bicentenaries of my great, great, great grandparents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who were both born in 1819.
“Prinz Albert von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha was the most remarkable man who, in his all-too-short life, had such far-reaching influence on the arts, science, trade and industry in Britain.
“To my family, he brought not just familial ties to what is now Germany, which we still cherish, but an affinity with German culture, and tradition, and a wish to share it across national borders.”
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