King Charles will travel to France and Germany for his first state visits

Britain's new monarch and his wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort, will attend state banquets in Paris and Berlin later this month .

LONDON – King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, will travel to France and Germany this month, making their first state visits since Charles ascended the throne in September, Buckingham Palace announced Friday.< /p>

"The visit will celebrate Britain's relations with France and Germany , marking our histories, our culture and our shared values," said a statement from the palace. “It will also be an opportunity to look to the future and demonstrate the many ways the UK is working in partnership with France and Germany, whether to tackle climate change; responding to the conflict in Ukraine; seize trade and investment opportunities or share the best of our arts and culture."

By choosing France and Germany, the two largest European Union economies, on his first visit, King Charles signals Britain's intention to strengthen ties after divisive Brexit negotiations.

For the French leg of the trip, which begins March 26, the royal couple will join President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in Paris for a remembrance ceremony and wreath laying at the Arc de Triomphe. The king and queen consort will also attend a state banquet in their honor at the Palace of Versailles.

In addition, Queen Camilla and Mrs. Macron will inaugurate the new Édouard Manet and the Edgar Degas exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay.From Paris, Charles and Camilla will travel to Bordeaux, where they will see have the devastation caused by the forest fires of last summer. They will also visit an organic vineyard known for its sustainable approach to winemaking.

King Charles and Queen Camilla will then travel to Germany for a three-day visit to Berlin and in Hamburg. . They will attend a state banquet, hosted by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, at Bellevue Palace, the presidential residence in Berlin. King Charles will address the Bundestag, the German parliament, and he will meet recently arrived refugees from Ukraine. Camilla and Ms. Büdenbender will visit the Komische Oper in Berlin to learn more about the opera company's outreach projects.

The British constitutional monarch traditionally holds meetings with other heads of state to build relationships, but stay out of politics. King Charles came under fire this week when he met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for tea at Windsor Castle, minutes after she and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak presented a landmark deal to end a dispute over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland. .