After the queen’s death

Created September 19, 2022 | 00:01

Reading time: 2 minutes

the queen's coffin

the queen’s coffin

Photo: APA/dpa

Noafter the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on Sunday night King Charles III. and personally condolences to King Camilla’s wife. At the state’s reception at Buckingham Palace on the eve of the Queen’s state funeral, the federal president exchanged views with the royal couple and other heads of state, according to an APA spokeswoman. At 10pm, Van der Bellen was on public display.

On Sunday night, Charles thanked him for his great sympathy following his mother’s death. “My wife and I have been deeply touched by the many messages of condolence and support we have received from across the country and the world over the past 10 days,” the monarch said, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.

The coffin of the queen, who died on September 8 at the age of 96, has been on display in Parliament since Wednesday. Many thousands of people took the opportunity to pay their last respects to the monarch, lining up for hours in a kilometer-long line. Public viewing should end in the morning. Hundreds of heads of state and government, as well as monarchs and other dignitaries, are expected to attend the funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday.

Van der Bellen knows Charles personally from his visit to Vienna in 2017. The heir to the throne at the time traveled to the federal capital with his wife Camilla for an official visit in April 2017. The program included a face-to-face interview with Van der Bellen. and his wife Doris Schmidauer at the Hofburg, as well as a visit to an organic wine tavern. In terms of content, the focus at the time was mainly on the themes of climate change and sustainability. According to the Presidential Chancellery, Van der Bellen spoke to his German and Bulgarian colleagues Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Rumen Radew at the reception on Sunday.