Camilla looks chic as she joins Elke Budenbender at the Opera
Written by on July 31, 2023
appeared in high spirits as she attended the opera today in , during day two the King and Queen’s State Visit to .
Camilla, 75, was joined by Germany’s First Lady Elke Budenbender at the Komische Oper opera house to learn more about the company’s outreach projects and community engagement.
The royal beamed as she met with actors dressed in costume from various opera productions including a male dancer in a outfit made entirely of green feathers and a singer performing the role of Areodates in Handel’s opera Xerxes.
Alongside local school children Her Majesty also listened to songs in the opera house auditorium.
The royal was warmly welcomed by the Managing Directors of the Opera Susanne Moser and Philipp Broecking as she arrived at the venue.
The Queen Consort appeared in high spirits as she attended the opera today in Berlin, during day two the King and Queen’s State Visit to Germany (pictured with Managing Directors of the Komische Oper Philipp Broecking (left), Susanne Moser (right) and Lady Elke Budenbender (centre))
As she was shown around the opera house by the co-directors the Queen also met more performers from various opera productions, including one from La Cage aux Folles and a singer playing Parmina in Die Zauberflote.
However it was the children’s choir performing singalongs on stage that really captured her imagination.
As part of its outreach work, the opera house works with children and young people, and also has a project helping people with dementia.
Anna-Kathrin Ostrop, who was running the choir on stage with the help of two professional singers, told the audience that one of the songs sung by the children, Irgendwo auf der Welt, used to be well known before the Second World War.
But it fell out of use after its composer, Richard Heymann, had to flee the Nazis.
Afterwards the Queen went on stage to meet performers, children and people from the dementia project.She also posed for a group picture with the children’s choir.
The Komische Oper was originally founded in 1892 as Theater Unter den Linden, it was damaged during World War II and rebuilt and reopened in 1947 as the Komische Oper.
Camilla, 75, enjoyed a performance during her visit to Komische Opera in Berlin during her state visit
Camilla was joined by Germany’s first lady Elke Budenbender (left) at the Komische Oper opera house to learn more about the opera company’s outreach projects and community engagement
It works to bring opera and performing arts to all levels of the community, through a diverse range of projects.
Earlier in the day Camilla joined King Charles as he was filmed hilariously trying to get to grips with a .
In an amusing clip, the King can be seen flailing his hands through cheese curd with little success and looking upwards exasperated as the cheese mixture froths.
It is just one of the royal couple’s many engagements on day two of their tour which has seen them visit food markets, inspect military equipment and visit victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
The pair supported work in the country to care for the 1million-plus Ukrainians who have fled there since Russia’s invasion as well as meeting members of the German and British Amphibious Engineer Battalion to view a static display of some of the Battalion’s key equipment.
Camilla donned a glam makeup which featured a dark pink slick of lipstick and a soft brown eyeshadow
The royal beamed as she met with actors dressed in costume from various opera productions
In interesting scenes, the King watched as troops took part in a static demonstration of the M3 Amphibious Bridge which was erected over the Oder-Havel canal and then driven over by the unit’s BOXER Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (M.I.V.).
The King then walked over the bridge in Finowfurt to meet members of the joint German and British battalion that was formed in 2021.
His Majesty also toured the Tegel Refugee Centre in Berlin where he met some of the residents and heard their heartbreaking stories just an hour after telling the Bundestag of the ‘unimaginable suffering’ in their homeland.
The King told Ukrainian families fleeing Putin’s war ‘I’m praying for you’ as he visited a refugee centre – where thousands now live in tents and marquees.They are also battling a chicken pox outbreak.
The Queen spoke to a Komische Oper Berlin performer next to Germany’s first lady Elke Buedenbender
Camilla and the First Lady Elke Budenbender (second left) met opera singers from the Komische Opera
Separately the Queen Consort was visiting the Refugio House community centre, a meeting place for locals and new Berlin residents, including refugees.
Charles, 74, surprised refugees who had only just arrived to register at Berlin’s old Tegel Airport.He laughed as he lost a Game Casino Onlline of table football in the centre’s play area and paused to shake hands and hear stories of refugees who had fled the war zone.
He was given a tour of the Ukraine Arrival Centre by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
On several occasions Charles clasped his hands together and told refugees ‘I’m praying for you.’
Speaking afterwards through a translator pre-school Olena Ochkiviska, 40, said: ‘I told him everyone was caring after us and they are working on the negatives.
‘He said that he was praying for us all.I’m the luckiest lady in the world.’
Alongside local school children Her Majesty also listened to songs in the opera house auditorium
The royal posed for a photo with a group of school children following their performance in the auditorium
The Queen Consort spoke to a very glamorous actor during her visit to the Komische in Berlin
Stopping to speak to families registering after just arriving, Charles said: ‘Are you sleeping here?’
He also asked: ‘Was it very difficult to get out of Ukraine?Are you pleased to be here?’
He also played table football in the refugee centre’s games room.
He said: ‘I remember trying this when I was younger.’
But when he conceded a goal, he replied: ‘Amazing, two hands you are the experts.’
Kleopatra Tummler, operations manager of the refugee centre, who also worked 15 years as Take That’s tour manager, said afterwards: ‘He really showed interest in everyone’s stories.
Camilla waved to performers and well-wishers as she departed from the Komische Opera house
Co-director of the Komische Oper Philip Braking alongside Camilla and the First Lady Elke Buedenbender and co-director Susanne Moser (left)
First Lady Elke Budenbender (right) waved to the crowds alongside Camilla before entering the opera
Camilla held a white bouquet of flowers in the car before her arrival at the Komische Opera
The royal waved at the crowds as she made her way out of the vehicle at the opera house in Berlin
The royal donned a silver diamond shamrock brooch and chic gold earrings for her visit to the opera house
‘He learned that some said there were not enough cellars in Ukraine for people to hide.
‘There was a family who had just arrived and registered here who he stopped to talk to.’
Sascha Langenbach, spokesman for the State Office for Refugee Affairs, said afterwards: ‘We are overwhelmed by the empathic way in which the King approached both the refugees and organisers working here.
‘We do have many refugees suffering from illnesses like cancer and needing specialist treatment.
‘He was so interested and shook everyone’s hands and asked where they came from and found out about their experiences.
‘It was really special and we didn’t expect His Majesty to do this.’
The Ukraine Arrival Centre opened as a refuge on March 20 and the majority are women and children.
Up to 10,000 people were arriving daily in Berlin by train at the outbreak of the war last year.
The King was given a guided tour of the organic farm in Brandenburg before he got to work
Britain’s King Charles III (C) and Berlin’s Mayor Franziska Giffey (2R) visit the Ukraine Arrival Centre Tegel
Camilla, Queen Consort visits the Refugio House community centre and meets some of the House’s residents and groups
Most stay in temporary marquee accommodation before they move into more suitable longer-term homes.
Since last spring, two unused terminal buildings have housed refugees.
During the winter two large heated tents were set up on the tarmac.
The third terminal building was used as a registration center.
The old airport was first used for the 1948 Berlin Airlift but in October 2020 and decommissioned a year later.
It was used as a Covid-19 vaccination centre before reopening as a refugee shelter last March.
The visit came around an hour after he became the first British monarch to address the Bundestag in Berlin – and did almost the entire historic speech in German – as his state visit went from strength to strength.
There were nods of approval and several rounds of applause from MPs as His Majesty spoke about the ‘friendship’ between ‘our nations’, and at times the royal looked emotional to be there.
Charles also spoke movingly about the Queen’s love for Germany and how he was moved by the tributes from its people after she died last September.He added: ‘This friendship meant so much to my beloved mother, Game Casino Onlline the Queen.’
The King praised Germany for standing up for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, saying it ‘threatens’ Europe’s security but that he was ‘encouraged’ by the ‘unity’ shown by Britain, Germany and other nations.
He also joked about the rivalry between the two countries played out on the football pitch, including the Lionesses’ recent defeat of Germany’s women at Euro 2022.
