Like so many Christian families around the world, the royal house of Spain marked Easter Sunday by attending mass. Most members of the royal family were on the Balearic Island of Palma de Mallorca where they gather each year for the holy day.
By attending mass, this is an opportunity for the public to get a glimpse of Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia’s daughters, the Infantas Leonor and Sofia. The two girls are kept away from the public eye for most of the year due to school commitments.
King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and Infanta Elena were also at the Cathedral de Palma de Mallorca for Easter mass. Elena’s two children, Felipe and Victoria were spending the holiday with their father, who their mother divorced from in 2010.
Also not in attendance was Infanta Cristina, her husband and their four children. This is likely because the family lives in Washington, D.C.in the United States and their school vacations are said to be not coinciding with Spanish holidays. Also likely is that Cristina’s husband, Inaki Urdangarin, Duke of Palma, is being excluded from mingling with the Spanish royals – particularly King Juan Carlos – because of his alleged fraud scandal and legal troubles as a result.
The President and First Lady of Peru began their official visit to Spain Wednesday. Ollanta Humala and Nadine Heredia were welcomed by the Spanish royal family at the palace, and in the evening, were guests of honor at a banquet.
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During the dinner, His Majesty King Juan Carlos spoke about the relationship between Spain and Peru, saying: “Peru and Spain maintain a fraternal relationship that is based on history, culture, language and common values”
“Peruvians living in Spain and the Spanish who live in the Peru contributes to further strengthen our ties.”
The King then talked about how his country helped Peru grow economically. “The economic and business is a very significant of our relations…thus contributing to its economic growth, both in terms of goods and services generated as job creation or contribution to the public purse, not to mention involvement in corporate social responsibility.”
“Peru is a nation in Spain, sister and friend, and it is committed to the projects progress and welfare of the beloved people of Peru,” His Majesty concluded.
Madrid witnessed its annual military parade on Friday, which represents the end of the December holidays and starts the political new year in Spain. This year’s Pascua Militar is also the first for the new Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, as well as the newly appointed Chief of Staff of Defense, Admiral Fernando García Sánchez.
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King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia came out for the military parade, which took place on a sunny afternoon. Past Pascua Militars were on rainy days, but this day was a stroke of luck for them. The King and his heir were in military uniform while the royal women were in formal dress. Both the Queen and the Princess tend to wear similar colors during this event.
The national anthem was played, followed by a 21 gun salute. His Majesty then reviewed the royal guard.
Inside the royal palace, at the Hall of Gasparini, the royals greeted the guests. They were: the institutional officials and the heads of the Defense Staff, the Royal and Military Order of San Fernando and San Hermenegildo, Civil Guard and the Brotherhood of Veterans.
The King then gave a speech where he paid tribute to Spain’s fallen soldiers and their families. He also urged the Armed Forces and Civil Guard to “uphold the principles of discipline, hierarchy and unity,” which, “with the duty of political neutrality and union” are “essential” to the tasks assigned to them.
He also talked about the current economic crisis. “I have the certainty that as you have done in the past exemplary way, you know get the most out of resources allocated and to be very careful in the use and maintenance of the media.”
“Thanks to your reputation, the result of your excellent staff training and high demand, our young people are attracted to the military profession,” King Juan Carlos said.
The tradition of Pascua Militar goes back to 1782 to the reign of King Carlos III. It is always held on the Feast of Epiphany, January 6th.
On Tuesday, Spain witnessed the opening of the Xth legislature, of democracy or its opening of Parliament. King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia were in attendance for the event.
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Not in attendance for the first time since 1979 were the King’s two daughters, Infantas Elena and Cristina. Many wondered if their absence was linked to Cristina’s husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, and his ties to a corruption scandal. Urdangarin has been excluded from the royal family because of it.
“They did not accept their invitation (to attend) for different reasons,” a royal palace communications official said. “It is their decision.”
In his speech to the new legislature, King Juan Carlos reiterated what he said during his Christmas Eve speech to the nation – such as its “responsibility to strengthen trust in the institutions” of Spain. He also added that no public figure was above the law, another echo of the previous speech.
His Majesty also spoke about the high unemployment rate. “All of you, deputies and senators, are united in the obligation to contribute with decisiveness and efficacy to getting over this crisis and its negative effects on citizens,” he said.
The three children of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain have released the Christmas photographs of their families. Infanta Elena, Infanta Cristina and Prince Felipe all are showing how much their children have grown up.
Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia posed with their two daughters, Infantas Leonor and Sofia. The couple switch each pose each year. One year, their Christmas photo has just their two girls, the next year has their parents with them, and repeat.
Meanwhile, Elena used a photo of her two children, Felipe Frolian and Victoria, without her.
Infanta Cristina used a picture from third son’s Juan’s first communion this year. Some royal fans were disappointed not to see an original photo. However, it should be noted husband Iñaki Urdangarin is in this. Urdangarin is caught up in a scandal that caused him to be removed from the royal family.
On Tuesday morning, Spain’s Prince and Princess of Asturias arrived in Chile to begin a three day official visit to the country.
Check out more photos here at Daylife.com
Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia landed in Santiago and went to lay a wreath at the Monument to the Liberator Bernardo O’Higgins before meeting with Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and First Lady Cecilia Piñera at the Palacio de la Moneda. Talks were held inside after the initial reception.
Next, Their Royal Highnesses opened the Forum of Investment and Business Meeting between Chile and Spain.
Afterward, the Prince and Princess visited Chile’s Congress. The evening had a dinner banquet in honor of the royals.
For Wednesday, Felipe and Letizia will open the exhibition of Chema Madoz at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Late in the afternoon, they will hold an audience at Fundación Chile-Spain at the Hotel Ritz-Carlton.
Thursday will see the couple head to Antofagasta, where they will check out the observatories at Paranal and also see the natural monument La Portada de Antofagasta.
After that visit, Felipe and Letizia will head back to Spain.
On Monday, the Prince and Princess of Asturias went to London to visit and promote Spanish businesses in the British capital.
Click here to see photos of their visit at Zimbio.
First, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia went to the ExCel Exhibition Center for the World Travel Market, a tourism fair taking place each year in London. The couple toured the Pavilion Turespaña, which groups the exhibitors from various Spanish locations such as Santiago de Compostela, Basque Country, Bilbao, Castilla y León, Catalan Pyrenees, Aragon, Zaragoza, Madrid, the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Catalonia and Valencia.
9.5 million Britons spend an average 9.3 days in Spain, and spend about 7.2 million euros.
Next, they had lunch with British tour operators working in Spain. After that, the royals inaugurated a business forum with British and Spanish business leaders. At the opening, Felipe gave a speech saying the forum “aimed to find ways to enhance cooperation between our institutions and companies that can improve economic growth, create jobs and opportunities, and generally improve the welfare of our two great nations.”
In the evening, Felipe and Letizia attended a gala for the 125th anniversary of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom. The Prince gave a speech at the dinner, highlighting how the two countries have benefited from each other.
“Spanish companies have become an important part of the landscape of British companies who hold leadership positions in key sectors of the economy, while British companies established in Spain also play an important role in our economy,” Felipe said.
Spanish investments in Great Britain have grown in recent years in the financial services, telecommunications, electricity supply and gas.
In Oviedo Friday, the annual Prince of Asturias Awards were given out at the Campoamor Theater. Prince Felipe, Princess Letizia and Queen Sofia were in attendance, as the Prince gave out the Spanish version of the Nobel Prizes.
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At the beginning of the ceremony, the future King gave a speech in which he hailed the Basque separatists for ceasing terrorism.
“It is certainly good news,” Felipe began. “It is, above all, a great victory for our rule of law. A victory for the will and determination of the democratic institutions of sacrifice and selfless work, and effective, the Security Forces, in short, the whole of our society. In this time when freedom and reason win over barbarism, I look back, I wish that all together we returned the look, with great affection and respect for the victims, to their grief and pay homage to the excitement memory, and dignity.”
The Prince then of course discussed the Awards and their meaning.
“We meet this evening of gratitude to honor our award winners. Their presence among us here in Oviedo allows us to recognize merit stronger and valuable record of their lives, our work, committed to art, to science, to sports, with solidarity. We do so with admiration and very satisfied, because our foundation kept alive in these difficult times, values and objectives for which it was born more than thirty years. This ceremony is a compendium of all: our will to distinguish the exemplary, to present positive role models in society that recognized and to emulate, and to share with everyone, in short, a message of hope.”
One by one, Felipe briefed on each of this year’s winners in the fields of sports, arts, social science, communication and humanities, international cooperation, technical and scientific research, letters, and finally the Concordia award.
After the speech, the awards were distributed. The recipients for this year’s Prince of Asturias award were:
Riccardo Muti – arts
Howard Gardner – social science
The Royal Society – communication and humanities
Bill Drayton – international cooperation
Joseph Altman, Arturo Alvarez-Buylla and Giacomo Rizzolatti – technical and scientific research
Leonard Cohen – letters
Haile Gebrselassie – sports
Workers of the Fukushima Power Plant – Concordia Award
Each of the winners gave speeches and then were given a diploma and a badge directly from Prince Felipe. Then they walked down a ramp to be acknowledged by the audience.
October 12th marks Spain’s National Day, and Wednesday saw the Spanish royal family take part in the celebrations.
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At 10am local time, the royals gathered for the traditional military parade. They included King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe, Princess Letizia, Infanta Elena, and Infanta Cristina along with her husband Iñaki Urdangarin. Not with his mother, but off to the side, was Infanta Elena’s son Felipe Frolian.
During the parade, a chair was placed near King Juan Carlos, who is still recovering from surgery on his Achilles tendon. Although he did not sit down, the King did lean on a cane.
In keeping with austerity, both Queen Sofia and Infanta Elena wore suits they had worn previously.
After the parade, a reception was held at Zarzuela Palace starting at 1pm. In the throne room, the representatives from various government fields came and had their hands shook one by one by the Spanish royals. The number of representatives? One thousand.
Once again, the King leaned on his cane during the entire reception.
The next King and Queen of Spain went to Segovia Monday to attend a meeting with senior officials of the World Heritage Center of UNESCO. The meeting was held at the La Granja de San Ildefonso Palace.
View more photos here at Zimbio.com
Before sitting down for the meeting, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia did a walkabout outside the palace, where they were mobbed by many children. Below is video of the couple being greeted by the children.
Inside, the royals and the officials sat in front of a set of tapestries. Prince Felipe delivered a speech summing up the reason for the meeting.
“The management of our heritage, with the support of you all, raises the cohesion of the community in which found, encourages social responsibility, and also business function multiplies the historical or natural assets as a source of prosperity for the people in their environment. The educational aspect of heritage and its attractiveness for researchers and enhance its value as a tool for sustainable development.
“We know that safeguarding the Spanish Cultural and Natural Heritage protects wealth which, like a game of mirrors, are reflected and many other great cultures of the Mediterranean, the rest of Europe, America and many other places in our world.”
The Prince concluded by reiterating “UNESCO’s commitment to our Nation, its government, institutions and civil society to the care, maintenance and enhancement of the national and global heritage. In addition, we offer the experience of Spain in culture and development, widely demonstrated over many years. ”
Currently, Spain has 43 declared goods and is ranked number two on the list of highest number of properties inscribed by the World Heritage.
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