Mr President,
Prince Philip and I would like to thank you and Frau Schadt for the warm welcome you havegiven us at the start of our fifth State Visit to Germany. In the 50 years since our first visit, ourcountries have lived through many profound changes. I am very glad to record that one of theirreversible changes for the better in my lifetime has been in the relationship between theUnited Kingdom and Germany.
Mr President, it falls to a Head of State to lead a nation in the marking of anniversaries. Everymonth this year we commemorate either the centenary of a momentous event in the FirstWorld War; the 70th anniversary of a milestone at the end of the Second World War; or, herein Germany, 25 years of reunification following the fall of the wall which divided this city andthis nation for so long.
But, tonight, I would also like to cast back rather further in time. Last week in a water-meadow by the River Thames, I attended an event to celebrate the 800th anniversary of theMagna Carta. Of course, in common with other events in our remote history, the precise factsof 1215 are disputed. The consequences of the agreement between King John and his barons,however, are not disputed: for the first time we established in England that no man should beabove the law and that individuals as well as rulers have rights. Thus began the long, slow andinterrupted process of our country's evolution into a democracy.
Tomorrow I shall visit St Paul's Church, where the first freely-elected legislature in Germanymet in 1848. The Frankfurt Parliament turned out to be a false dawn; it took another centuryand the loss of the most terrible wars in history to set Germany on the path of democracy.
Earlier this year my cousins visited Germany to mark with you, Mr President, more recent andpainful anniversaries. The Duke of Kent visited Dresden and The Duke of Gloucester visitedBergen-Belsen. I myself shall visit Bergen-Belsen on Friday. These visits underline the completereconciliation between our countries.
Germany has reconciled with all her neighbours. I pay tribute to the work of the Germanstatesmen since the Second World War who reinvented Germany and helped to rebuild Europe.I met Chancellor Adenauer at Windsor in 1958. He rejected the idea of a neutral Germany,preferring to anchor Germany in the West. His successors took up the challenge of unitingGermany as a member of all the institutions of Europe and the West.