Angela Merkel’s speech to both Houses of Parliament was perhaps a public reply to David Cameron’s previous speech on Europe.  There’s a lot of wooing of Angela Merkel going on with David Cameron.  Power is sexy – and Angela Merkel is powerful.  We may or may not want to be part of the EU but we are part of Europe.  You don’t have to be an anthropologist to know that our links are deep, especially the links of our royal family.  Even in the present day, our links are deep.  As Peter Morgan pointed out in a conversation between Churchill and Queen Elizabeth in his play The Audience:

“Churchill:  Mountbatten was the adoptive name your husband took when he became a British citizen.  His real name, you’ll hardly need reminding, was Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg of the Royal Houses of Denmark and Norway, and latterly of Greece.  A convention of genealogists couldn’t pinpoint that man’s roots.”

Angela Merkel’s speech was partly in German – interpretation here – and partly in English.  Having heard her speaking in English, I wonder if the interpreter has picked up the drive behind her words?