King Charles honours victims of WWII allied bombings

HAMBURG, Germany: King Charles laid a wreath in memory of the victims of the allied bombing in World War Two during a visit to Hamburg's St Nikolai memorial, the remains of a church in Germany's northern port city severely damaged by the air raids.

The gesture comes on the last day of Charles' three-day tour of Germany, his first overseas state trip since ascending the British throne last year designed to strengthen bilateral and European ties.

It comes shortly before the 80th anniversary of the allied bombing of Hamburg in July known as "Operation Gomorrah" that killed some 40,000 people and destroyed swathes of the city.

In response to Nazi air raids on civilian targets in Poland and later London, the Allies dropped about 1.9 million tonnes of bombs on Germany in an effort to cripple German industry. The allied raids killed some 500,000 people.

"Heeding the lessons of the past is our sacred responsibility, but it can only be fully discharged through a commitment to our shared future," Charles said in a bilingual address to the Bundestag lower house of parliament on Thursday.

"Together we must be vigilant against threats to our values and freedoms, and resolute in our determination to confront them."

Later on Friday, Charles, who succeeded his mother Queen Elizabeth when she died in September, is set to learn more about the port of Hamburg's adoption of green technologies and to meet representatives of some of the firms involved. (Reuters)