Joy in the north
Good news that brought great joy to Germany's northernmost state: Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom is taking over the patronage for the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival this year. It's the second time she's doing this. The less good news: Her Majesty will not be arriving in person at the opening concert (July 6 in Lübeck). She is represented by her ambassador Simon McDonald.
It is easy to explain why Queen Elizabeth once again gave her advertising name to the concerts, which take place largely in castles and mansions: The centerpiece of the classical series is the Hamburg-born composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who cultivated close ties with England.
The Queen herself praised the annual event series. She was one of the world's largest and most prestigious classical music festivals, she wrote in her welcome speech. She knows what she's talking about, after all, her son Prince Charles was a guest musician there once. In 1988, as a pilot, he drove his royal jet to Kiel to play the cello in the Petri Church in the evening. Five years later (2003), Queen Elizabeth appeared for the first time as patron of the classical series (focus: Great Britain). Her youngest son, Prince Edward, enjoyed the opening concert in Neumünster.
Incidentally, the Queen herself knows Schleswig-Holstein well. She sailed several times on her yacht "Britannia" through the Nordostsee Canal, looking happy and long while entering and removing her ship and let pass on the passage of the landscape itself. Even as a state guest, she was in the north. Among other things, she examined noble Holsteiner horses on the Schierensee estate owned by the publisher Axel Cäsar Springer.
