Munich bids farewell to Queen Elizabeth II. A book of condolences for the monarch has been available in the court chapel of the Residenz since Friday. The black-bound book stands on a transparent pedestal in front of a picture of the queen. Three flags are set up next to it: the German and the Bavarian with crape and the Union Jack. Emotional words fill the pages. Many have already signed up. Sometimes people queued up to pay their last respects to the Queen in this way. In addition to sadness, gratitude prevails in the messages.
“I thanked you for your service to England’s crown,” says Daniel Auktor about his entry in the book. “Because with her sense of duty and her discipline, the Queen was a role model for everyone, including me personally.” Above all, he was impressed by her perseverance. “She has always shown that what you start, you have to finish.” The condolence book is a nice opportunity for him to say goodbye in a personal way.
The English teacher Claudia Heupel is also happy about the opportunity to leave a message in the condolence book. “I also said goodbye on behalf of my entire student body,” she says. She saw the Queen twice in England. “She was an impressive personality, up until two days before her death she was still doing her job at 96,” she says, referring to last Tuesday when the Queen appointed Liz Truss as the new Prime Minister. Heupel rates the Free State’s efforts to pay their last respects with the Queen’s book of condolences, among other things, as a dignified farewell to the popular monarch.
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) was the first to write in the book of condolences on Friday, followed by the President of the State Parliament Ilse Aigner (CSU) and the British Consul General Simon Philip Kendall. Up to and including Monday, September 19, anyone can enter in the book between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.