It’s the day after. The Union Jack hangs at half-mast in front of the British Consulate General in Munich, and the staff wear black. The morning after the Queen’s death, the first flowers and candles are already lying outside the gates of the consulate. There are more and more as the day goes on. Many come to express their grief and say goodbye.
One of them is the Australian John Brown. “It’s hard to describe the emotions,” he says with tears in his eyes. He has lived in Germany for 26 years and has little to do with Great Britain. The Queen’s death still hit him like a family member had died. “I’m grateful for the sympathy,” he says of the expressions of grief he hears from the German side, “but it can’t be sympathy because the Germans can’t feel it. There’s nothing here that remotely embodies what the Queen was for us. It’s like the Brandenburg Gate collapsing.”
During her visit to Munich in 1965, the Queen attended a performance of Richard Strauss’ “Rosenkavalier”.
(Photo: AP)
In 1965, the Queen visited Munich for a day. She and her husband, Prince Philip, were received with great euphoria. “Munich cheers for the queen,” headlined the SZ on page 1 of a picture of the two with the then Bavarian Prime Minister Alfons Goppel (CSU). He deliberately staged the Queen’s visit to the Free State as a statement of Bavarian disobedience towards the Federal Republic by, among other things, having the Bavarian anthem played. “The hearts of the Bavarian people beat towards Your Majesty!” Goppel exclaimed.
Elizabeth also immortalized herself in the city’s Golden Book. This entry is on display Monday through Wednesday on the second floor of City Hall.