The Queen to meet Angela Merkel just days after England defeat Germany in Euro 2020
(Picture: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Angela Merkel is heading to Britain to meet the Queen just days after England defeated Germany at Euro 2020, it has been revealed.
The monarch will meet the German Chancellor at an audience at Windsor Castle in Berkshire on Friday.
Time has also been scheduled with prime minister Boris Johnson.
She is making a series of farewell trips as she prepares to stand down as Chancellor in the autumn.
However, her visit to the the UK was said to be in doubt because of the Indian ‘Delta’ variant of Covid which has been fuelling a rise in cases.
The German leader is expected to discuss Brexit and the global pandemic with the prime minister.
It seems football is not on the official agenda after England’s tournament win against the country for the first time since 1966.
She met the Queen at the G7 summit in Cornwall earlier this month which was also attended by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
They were at Tuesday’s clash against Germany at Wembley with son Prince George, seven, and saw the Three Lions notch a 2-0 win.
Meanwhile, Germany is putting pressure on countries like Spain and Portugal - which rely on British tourist income - to accept an EU-wide blanket ban on UK holidaymakers to stop the spread of the so-called ‘Delta’ variant.
Nearly half of all Britons are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, while 36 per cent of Germans are double-jabbed. The AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 per cent effective against the Indian variant.
But the German chancellor, along with French leader Emmanuel Macron, wants EU member states to accept a blanket ban on arrivals from the UK - urging them to relinquish their border sovereignty and hand it over to Brussels.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is asking Boris Johnson not to be “irresponsible” and follow Munich’s lead, where just 20 per cent of Euro fans have been allowed in.
The plan for the semi final and final of the tournament at Wembley is to welcome 60,000 spectators which would mean the ground would be two thirds full.
“I think it’s irresponsible for tens of thousands to gather in close proximity’ in countries where the ‘highly contagious’ Indian variant is spreading”, Seehofer told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
