Queen Elizabeth & the Duke of Edinburgh: State Visit to Germany - November 2-4, 2004

[sharon_rose]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...596120,00.html
Thursday November 4, 2004 By JOACHIM SONDERMANN AAP

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II said Thursday her state visit to Germany gave her ``renewed confidence'' in the friendship between the former enemies, emphasizing strong economic ties as she ended her three-day tour.

In a speech to the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, an industrial region in western Germany, the queen underscored the post-World War II reconciliation between the two countries.

``Certainly we should not lose sight of the past, nor of the scale of human suffering on both sides during the Second World War,'' she said. ``Nobody of my generation needs reminding of that.''

``But we have traveled a very long way in the last 60 years and so much of what has been achieved has been done together,'' the queen added. ``I depart with renewed confidence in the deep friendship between our two countries so crucial to us both in the 21st century ahead.''

This week's state visit is the queen's fourth to Germany. She also visited Duesseldorf on her first trip to the country in 1965, and on Thursday recalled ``the appreciation for how Britain had helped in the years immediately following the war.''

Britain was the occupying power in the region immediately after the war. Now, the queen said, about 300 British firms have chosen North Rhine-Westphalia as the base for their German operations.

On Tuesday, she laid a wreath at Germany's national memorial to war victims in Berlin and acknowledged wartime suffering on both sides. On Wednesday, she hosted a concert at the Berlin Philharmonic, with proceeds going toward restoring the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, in Dresden - devastated by Allied bombing in 1945.

[sharon_rose]

Queen praises links with Germany

The Queen nods-off during a lecture on magnets in medicine

The Queen has spoken of her renewed confidence in relations with Germany on the final day of her state visit.

She visited Dusseldorf - devastated by allied bombing raids on the night of 3 November, 1944 - on Thursday.

Addressing the Landtag, North Rhine-Westphalia's regional parliament, she said that the suffering of the past could not be forgotten.

During a later engagement, the Queen appeared to fall asleep during a talk on the use of magnets in healthcare.

She slumped in her chair and closed her eyes for about 10 seconds during the lecture at the Heinrich-Heine University clinic.

'Achieved together'

The Queen, 78, also made an uncharacteristic error during her address to the Landtag.

She accidentally skipped a paragraph before stuttering and returning to the correct place.

The Queen with Peer Steinbrueck, prime minister of the Landtag

During her address she said: "I depart with renewed confidence in the deep friendship between our two countries.

"I know that many of you in Dusseldorf and elsewhere in Germany have had recent cause to remember.

"But we have travelled a very long way in the last 60 years and so much of what has been achieved has been done together."

The Queen told the Landtag that mutual Anglo-German investment, scientific exchange and commercial co-operation was now ingrained but should not be taken for granted.

She said: "I leave Germany this afternoon at the end of this visit with a real sense of opportunities ahead for those in both our countries who can grasp them." During her visit, the Queen visited the grave of a forgotten World War I hero Major Charles Yate in Stahnsdorf. She also met former Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann OBE, a former German POW who played for Manchester City in the 1956 FA Cup Final against Birmingham, despite breaking his neck.

VIDEO LINK http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3982769.stm#

[pdas1201]

and here are some more pic....
German budding artist made a picture of Queen Elizabeth, with crumpled paper I think....neat...:)