Today [Thursday 13th February 2025], His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent will represent His Majesty The King at events to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Bombing of Dresden, Germany. His Royal Highness has served as Royal Patron of the Dresden Trust since its creation in 1993 and of the British German Association since 1994.
Between 13th and 15th February 1945, during the Second World War, nearly 4000 tonnes of bombs were dropped by the a lies on the city of Dresden. The Dresden Trust (DT), of which His Royal Highness is Royal Patron, was founded in 1993 in response to a ‘Call from Dresden’ to help rebuild the city. Since its creation, the Dresden Trust has worked to build bridges of friendship and cooperation between the people of Britain and Dresden.
During the visit, His Royal Highness, joined by school children in Neumarkt Square, will view a demonstration of the Dresden Trust’s digital Dresden Lernweg (“Path of Learning”) project. The project uses online tools and maps to help younger generations connect with the history of the city.
The Duke will take part in a moment of reflection at the Frauenkirche, a Church destroyed during the bombing of Dresden and reconstructed, with support from the Dresden Trust, between 1994 and 2005. His Royal Highness has visited the Church on many occasions, including in 2000 when HRH presented a rebuilt Cross and Orb to sit on top of the Church, as a gift from the British people to Dresden. His Royal Highness returned in 2004 for the ceremony in which the Cross and Orb was officially raised onto the dome of the rebuilt Frauenkirche.
The Duke of Kent will also attend an official commemoration event, hosted by the City of Dresden, at Dresden Town Hall to mark the 80th Anniversary of the Bombing of the city, before taking park in the annual human chain event where citizens come together to form a human chain or “protective ring” around the old town of Dresden. The human chain aims to unite the city in remembrance of those who died during the bombing and during the Second World War.
In the evening, His Royal Highness will attend a performance by the Dresden Philharmonie of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at the Dresden Kulturpalatz. The performance will be conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles, Music Director of the Dresden Philharmonie. The War Requiem was originally commissioned to mark the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, which was built after the original Cathedral was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. Today, Coventry’s ‘twin city’ is Dresden with both working together on reconciliation and promoting economic prosperity.
For decades, The Duke of Kent has played an active role in fostering British-German reconciliation and has visited Dresden on many occasions. In February 2015, during commemorative events to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombing, His Royal Highness was honoured with the Dresden Prize, an international peace prize, for his contribution to the reconciliation of Great Britain and Germany.
