Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday starts a three-day state visit to Germany, a trip on which she is expected to underline the two countries' post-World War II reconciliation and lend her support to efforts to combat climate change. The queen, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, was to be greeted with military honors after her arrival by President Horst Koehler, who will speak at an evening banquet in her honor. She also plans to meet Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and a group of young German and British researchers on the effects of climate change. On Wednesday, she opens a conference on climate change at the British Embassy, chaired by Klaus Toepfer, the head of the U.N. Environment Program.
