ReutersGermany’s president has drawn a parallel between his country’s ties with the United Kingdom after Brexit and the recent reunion of the famous Oasis brothers.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier told MPs and peers that after the UK split from the EU there was disappointment and uncertainty, but that both sides had decided “not to get stuck in these feelings”.
“Don’t Look Back in Anger, as one of Oasis’ most famous songs says so well,” he said during a visit to Parliament on the second day of his state visit.
Later he will meet German footballers playing in the Premier League and visit the David Bowie Center at the V&A Museum, in a nod to the musician’s strong ties to Berlin.
He began his visit, the first by a German leader in 27 years, on Wednesday with a ceremonial reception by King Charles and Queen Camilla and a star-studded festive banquet at Windsor Castle.
He used his comments at this event and his trip to Parliament to emphasize the improving relations between his nation and the United Kingdom since Brexit in 2020.
“I think that’s typically British: keep calm and carry on: look forward pragmatically, move on,” Steinmeier said in the Royal Gallery of Parliament House on Thursday afternoon.
He later returned to the Oasis riff at the end of his speech, commenting on the band’s sold-out reunion tour after 16 years of acrimony between frontman Liam Gallagher and his guitarist brother Noel.
“Great Britannia is alive! Our relationships may have changed, but, dear Britons, our love remains,” he said. “So let’s not look at the past, but together at the future.”
Earlier in the day, Steinmeier and his wife Elke Budenbender left Windsor Castle for London, though not before being shown Queen Victoria’s winter sleigh, designed by her German-born husband Prince Albert in 1842, and attending a charity reception.
They later visited Westminster Abbey and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, which symbolizes all those who died serving in the First World War, particularly those who were not buried.
The last day of his state visit, Friday, will see Steinmeier visit the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, bombed during the Second World War, in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation.
This reflects a visit to Hamburg during the UK’s state visit to Germany, when King Charles laid a wreath in memory of civilian victims of Allied wartime bombing.
He will also receive an honorary degree from the University of Oxford, on a trip in which he will learn about medical research at the university.
