State Visit from the King and Queen of Spain: July 12-14, 2017


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Felipe got it wrong in his Guildhall speech - he was referring to a state visit of King Alfonso XIII in 1905 at the invitation of King Edward VIII...
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
Not at all appropriate. She was Her Majesty The Queen of Spain during a State Visit, the highest protocollair level. You will not see other Queens or Crown Princesses dressed that casual during State Visits.

Mathilde on day two of a State Visit

Máxima on day two of a State Visit

Mary and Máxima on day two of a State Visit


Then seeing the Queen of Spain without hat, without gloves, in a blouse with rolled-up sleeves visiting The Prime Minister or Westminster Abbey...

Saying hello to a PM or President? This was not even a State Visit, she was not even Queen yet, but she at least dressed up to show respect to the highest Office of State: picture.

From a Queen of Spain, one of the grandest monarchies, I expected more than a blouse with rolled-up sleeves.
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Again, I will say that Queen Letizia (in my opinion) is a modern, graceful, woman, strong and serious. Comparing her to other Monarchs is totally a waste of time. I dont know much about this forum. I enjoy looking at the pictures, and reading about all the ceremonies, state visits, weddings, seeing the public life of the Royals. But definitely, criticism of someone style of dressing repeatedly is so negative. Why are pictures of other Queens being posted to compare them with the style of the QL?
 
i am curious as to why they visited the francis crick institute - is this institute a collaboration with spanish institutes, or maybe spanish nationals work there? (in the group picture, it looks to me like they are posing with fellow spanish country men and women)

i just watched the footage of felipe at oxford. felipe's english is obviously excellent! his speech did great at highlighting the importance of the university. the rest of the speech was rather blah and full with cliches, but hey, that was expected.
 
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Osipi said:
Well... its all over and from everything I've seen, it was a very successful state visit of Spain to the UK. Felipe and Letizia were made to feel very much at home and welcomed and if the departing video shows anything, it shows the warmness between the two heads of state and their consorts parting as good friends would.
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I agree! I had the impression of grandparents/grandchildren saying farewell after a lovely visit.

Is the pattern on Philip's tie books? I love it!
 
 
julia garcia roch said:
Again, I will say that Queen Letizia (in my opinion) is a modern, graceful, woman, strong and serious. Comparing her to other Monarchs is totally a waste of time. I dont know much about this forum. I enjoy looking at the pictures, and reading about all the ceremonies, state visits, weddings, seeing the public life of the Royals. But definitely, criticism of someone style of dressing repeatedly is so negative. Why are pictures of other Queens being posted to compare them with the style of the QL?
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I understand that you are an admirer of Queen Letizia but I think you are being too sensitive about her. Every Royal and Princely female(and some males too)gets criticized and praised and is subjected to comparisons at TRF.

I don't agree with what everyone posts but on the whole I think it's pretty balanced here.

I don't follow Letizia particularly closely but I have noticed that while she does not always get it right in her day wear and tends to dress not appropriate for her rank, she is usually a regal goddess at night as she has shown on this State visit.

I think the visit was a booming success overall.
 
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The farewell video is very sweet. I thought that, during the welcoming ceremony, and while King Felipe had been very warm towards QE, the greeting between her and Letizia was polite and respectful but not warm, probably because she was not as familiar with her as she wss with Felipe. But I'm delighted to see that they seem to have got along very well since both looked so happy and sweet during the farewell, I guess the visit was satisfying for both parts.

Same goes to the Duke, the first thing I thought seeing his hug to Letizia was that he looked just like my own grandfather, and I mean that in the best possible way. Their faces while waving goodbye from the door were also typical grandparents look.

Somehow this little video has just become my favourite part of the visit.
 
Thank you to all those who shared the photos and videos from the state visit. It was good to follow it and nice to see Felipe and Letizia with the BRF. We don't often get to see the BRF interacting with the continental royals so this state visit was a nice treat.
I do believe that this is the first time Theresa May has received a foreign monarch as prime minister? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
On the first day of the state visit; my mother was coming home from work but she got caught up in large crowds which she presumed to be Felipe and Letizia. But much to her disappointment, it was a Formula One event instead!
 
HereditaryPrincess said:
On the first day of the state visit; my mother was coming home from work but she got caught up in large crowds which she presumed to be Felipe and Letizia. But much to her disappointment, it was a Formula One event instead!
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I would have been disappointed too!
 
HereditaryPrincess said:
Thank you to all those who shared the photos and videos from the state visit. It was good to follow it and nice to see Felipe and Letizia with the BRF. We don't often get to see the BRF interacting with the continental royals so this state visit was a nice treat.
I do believe that this is the first time Theresa May has received a foreign monarch as prime minister? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
On the first day of the state visit; my mother was coming home from work but she got caught up in large crowds which she presumed to be Felipe and Letizia. But much to her disappointment, it was a Formula One event instead!
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I believe you will find lots of old footage of QEII in her younger years on state visits to and from Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and even Spain ( the latter , more recently in the 1980s). It was only in her older years that the Queen retreated from state visits with other European monarchs.
 
A very warm farewell, definitely a little bit of a change from the welcome, to be expected as I imagine they hadn't seen each other for a long time before the State Visit began. Letizia seemed to be particularly affectionate towards Philip which was touching as this is expected to be his last State Visit before his retirement. It also seemed QE2 told Felipe to "send our love to your parents", cute!

In terms of State Visits from other monarchs my understanding is each Head of State gets one State visit thus by the late 80s they had all mostly visited and made their State Visits (I think only Luxembourg, Monaco and Liechtenstein haven't). Now there is a new generation of Sovereigns (Spain, Netherlands, Belgium) to welcome for a new round of State Visits.
 
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tommy100 said:
A very warm farewell, definitely a little bit of a change from the welcome, to be expected as I imagine they hadn't seen each other for a long time before the State Visit began. Letizia seemed to be particularly affectionate towards Philip which was touching as this is expected to be his last State Visit before his retirement. It also seemed QE2 told Felipe to "send our love to your parents", cute!

In terms of State Visits from other monarchs my understanding is each Head of State gets one State visit thus by the late 80s they had all mostly visited and made their State Visits (I think only Luxembourg, Monaco and Liechtenstein haven't). Now there is a new generation of Sovereigns (Spain, Netherlands, Belgium) to welcome for a new round of State Visits.
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King Albert II, who was enthroned in 1993, never got to make a State Visit to the UK and thus became the first King of the Belgians since Leopold I not to have been made a Knight of the Garter. By contrast, both Queen Juliana and Queen Beatrix had State Visits of their own. From that point of view, I think Philippe should have priority over Willem-Alexander.

State visits are very political these days though,The Queen only gets to invite whom the government wants to invite and I don't think European monarchies are exactly at the top of their agenda.
 
Mbruno said:
King Albert II, who was enthroned in 1993, never got to make a State Visit to the UK and thus became the first King of the Belgians since Leopold I not to have been made a Knight of the Garter. By contrast, both Queen Juliana and Queen Beatrix had State Visits of their own. From that point of view, I think Philippe should have priority over Willem-Alexander.

State visits are very political these days though,The Queen only gets to invite whom the government wants to invite and I don't think European monarchies are exactly at the top of their agenda.
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Oh, I was very surprised to read that Spain was the first European monarchy to visit since Denmark in 2000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_visits_received_by_Queen_Elizabeth_II
And I totally agree, Philippe should be next.


__

So it's wrap now? I guess F&L are on their way to Madrid or already home.
 
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Mbruno said:
State visits are very political these days though,The Queen only gets to invite whom the government wants to invite and I don't think European monarchies are exactly at the top of their agenda.
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Hasn't this been the case since modern times though? State visits are supposed to be all political and diplomatic, but usually take place when there's a specific agenda that needs further nudging from the top down. On a related note the host government usually shoulders more than majority of the cost of the entire event if it's a state visit. If the Queen wants to invite royals from other monarchies for some private time then it would be a private visit, paid for from out of their pockets, if it's just the government or business community that wants things done without the kind of pomp and pageantry that we saw then it would be a working visit (equal share between the two govts of expenses incurred). State visits are major diplomatic coups between the two countries involved but there are other kinds of visits that all enhance personal and diplomatic ties among people and countries involved.
 
Fürstin Taxis said:
Oh, I was very surprised to read that Spain was the first European monarchy to visit since Denmark in 2000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_visits_received_by_Queen_Elizabeth_II
And I totally agree, Philippe should be next.


__

So it's wrap now? I guess F&L are on their way to Madrid or already home.
Click to expand...


The 2005 visit by the norwegian royal family for the 100th jubilee of King Haakon´s accession had everything a state visit includes: Carriage Procession to B Palace, the exhibition in the Palace, a "state" banquet with orders, decorations and tiaras and a Guildhall reception exactly like the one we have witnessed yesterday, a visit at Downing Street 10 as well as the unveiling of a Queen Maud Statue in the garden of the norwegian embassy with the britisch Queen and Philip also present! There was no real difference to any other state visit to the UK we know of, even if it wasn´ t scheduled as such.
 
Fürstin Taxis said:
Oh, I was very surprised to read that Spain was the first European monarchy to visit since Denmark in 2000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_visits_received_by_Queen_Elizabeth_II
And I totally agree, Philippe should be next.
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Off-topic, but I suspect Philippe would feel rather intimated by a state visit to the UK. He's not a great public speaker and he has a much thicker accent when speaking English than W-A or even Felipe (remember how he struggled with his speech at the Danish state banquet ?). Mathilde, on the other hand, despite being a very confident and glamorous woman, is nonetheless a relatively "poor" queen, who barely has enough jewelry for two back to back tiara events (although she could still pull it off , especially if she eventually gets hold of Queen Fabiola's Spanish tiara).

As I said before though (and was actually criticized by other posters for that), it is, however, their "humility" so to speak what actually attracts me about Philippe and Mathilde, far more so than Máxima for example, who would most definitely show up at Buckingham Palace covered in humungous jewelry (maybe the full Stuart parure !), but with a certain unpleasant "nouveau riche" feel to it (sorry, Duc et Pair !).

As for Felipe and Letizia, I think they did great except IMHO for the decision to give orders to Harry, Andrew and Anne , and not to Camilla or William.

asn't this been the case since modern times though? State visits are supposed to be all political and diplomatic, but usually take place when there's a specific agenda that needs further nudging from the top down. On a related note the host government usually shoulders more than majority of the cost of the entire event if it's a state visit. If the Queen wants to invite royals from other monarchies for some private time then it would be a private visit, paid for from out of their pockets, if it's just the government or business community that wants things done without the kind of pomp and pageantry that we saw then it would be a working visit (equal share between the two govts of expenses incurred). State visits are major diplomatic coups between the two countries involved but there are other kinds of visits that all enhance personal and diplomatic ties among people and countries involved.
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I agree with what you've said. I don't think cost is a major factor though. THere are now at most two incoming state visits per year and their cost is relatively small in relative terms compared to the royal budget and the assets that are already there anyway, with or without a state visit.
 
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RumPunch said:
For all the coverage, not one person in my workplace today mentioned it. Media is massively over-estimating the interest in this from what I can see. We care about Wimbledon at this time of year, or the Premier League transfer market! We don't care about 2 powerless heads of state who can change nothing about the world we live in!

Felipe and Letizia could walk down Oxford Street and not be bothered because 95% of people wouldn't know who they were!
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Yes, virtually nobody knows and cares....:lol::whistling:

 
I thought Queen Mathilde had beautiful Crown Jewels. Someone mentioned she was a "relatively "poor" queen". I thought the SRF wERE the ones that had and received the least amount of money from their constituents.
 
julia garcia roch said:
I thought Queen Mathilde had beautiful Crown Jewels. Someone mentioned she was a "relatively "poor" queen". I thought the SRF wERE the ones that had and received the least amount of money from their constituents.
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I meant "poor" in the sense of not owning as much jewelry as other queens do. The Swedes and the Dutch are actually the two royal houses with the largest jewel collection after the Brits. I believe the grand ducal house of Luxembourg also has a big collection, but I don't really follow them.
 
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Mbruno said:
Off-topic, but I suspect Philippe would feel rather intimated by a state visit to the UK. He's not a great public speaker and he has a much thicker accent when speaking English than W-A or even Felipe (remember how he struggled with his speech at the Danish state banquet ?). Mathilde, on the other hand, despite being a very confident and glamorous woman, is nonetheless a relatively "poor" queen, who barely has enough jewelry for two back to back tiara events (although she could still pull it off , especially if she eventually gets hold of Queen Fabiola's Spanish tiara).
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I totally get what you mean about Philippe. This is why you train the heir very early on and I think Elisabeth is already a confident girl thankfully.

wartenberg7 said:
The 2005 visit by the norwegian royal family for the 100th jubilee of King Haakon´s accession had everything a state visit includes: Carriage Procession to B Palace, the exhibition in the Palace, a "state" banquet with orders, decorations and tiaras and a Guildhall reception exactly like the one we have witnessed yesterday, a visit at Downing Street 10 as well as the unveiling of a Queen Maud Statue in the garden of the norwegian embassy with the britisch Queen and Philip also present! There was no real difference to any other state visit to the UK we know of, even if it wasn´ t scheduled as such.
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Ahh, I remember that one. It's still over a decade ago. What surprised me as well was that the USA only visited 2 times, I had thought this occured more. France seems to be a favourite and could imagine Macron and wife next.
 
Mbruno said:
I agree with what you've said. I don't think cost is a major factor though. THere are now at most two incoming state visits per year and their cost is relatively small in relative terms compared to the royal budget and the assets that are already there anyway, with or without a state visit.
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No, I don't imagine cost itself is a factor..what I meant was that the standard for State Visits is that the host pays the bulk of the cost of the event as opposed to "working visits."

All this talk of foreign royals visiting the UK has got me curious about whether reciprocity is observed, which is the case for Republican Heads of State. For instance did F&L extend an invitation to the Queen and the DoE to visit Spain? Considering the advanced age of the latter, can they extend the invitation to Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall? Or was this visit already in response to a previous visit by the Spanish?
 
I think re the USA a lot of times Presidents have visited but not had a full State Visit, as any visit by a US president here is big news it probably feels like they should have been State Visits (a 10 min chat between HM and a US president gets much more media attention than this whole State Visit has and this has been one of the better covered ones)
As others have said, the Queen really has no say on whom is invited and the government of the day has their own agenda they want to further and they use State Visits as part of that. I suspect the Queen would much rather host the Kings of Belgium and Netherlands before other Presidents but its not her personal choice.
IMO there is a little ray of sunshine in that now Brexit is going ahead there more of a focus on EU countries and reestablishing our own links to them outside the EU. Hopefully that, and two new sovereigns to add to the potential State Visits list, may mean we get to see another European Sovereign at BP sooner rather than later.
 
As far as American state visits, Obama of course enjoyed one, but his predecessor hosted HM instead. Before that, Clinton was in the UK for the big 50th anniversary of D-Day events and did plenty of formal hob-nobbing then. HIS predecessor, the first Bush, formally hosted HM at the White House, and before that, Reagan ...well, I could go on, but there's been quite a bit of fairly recent entertaining at the formal state level between the two countries.

I don't know what will happen with President Trump. Didn't he demand some kind of special parade, or was that sensationalist media nonsense? Maybe he'll pull an Idi Amin and declare himself the King of Scotland. :)
 
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