Buckingham Palace has announced that King Charles and Queen Camilla will be visiting both France and Germany. While in Berlin, the royal couple will be visiting a former royal residence.
At the request of the British Government, The King and Queen will visit Germany between March 29th and March 31st 2023. Their visit includes a state dinner with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Schloss Bellevue.
The neoclassical Schloss Bellevue was designed by Michael Philipp Boumann, an architect from Potsdam, and was built in 1796. It first served as a home for the younger brother of King Frederick II of Prussia, Prince Augustus Ferdinand. He lived at the palace with his wife and children, and in addition to being a Prussian prince also served as the Master of the Knights of the Order of St. John. The prince hosted several notable guests at the palace, like Emperor Napoleon I.
Prince Augustus died in 1843 and left the palace to King Frederick William IV. Frederick William was known for commissioning several buildings throughout his reign and did not spend much time at Schloss Bellevue.
The King gave the palace to his niece, Princess Alexandrine, after she married Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Although the marriage was considered to be unhappy, the couple did raise their children at Schloss Bellevue.
The palace passed to the Hohenzollern dynasty and remained in their possession until the political turmoil that followed then end of the First World War in 1918.
The last royals to use Schloss Bellevue were Emperor Wilhelm II’s children, who used the palace as a school.
In 1928, Emperor Wilhelm II gave Schloss Bellevue to the State of Prussia where it was used as a museum. It was bought by the Nazi regime in the late 1930s. It was damaged by bombing in World War Two. It was refurbished and used by the government of West Germany. Since 1994, the palace has been the official residence of the German president.
It has been used for a number of State Banquets during State Visits including in 2015 when Queen Elizabeth II made her final outgoing State Visit.
