July is synonymous with heat, shorter hours and slower pace in the offices. At least for many. However, at Casa Real they know that July means the opposite: much more work and commitments before closing the year with a vacation that, in the case of the King and Queen, does not last more than three weeks. While many companies send their workers home at three in the afternoon, the highest institution of the State takes advantage of the fact that the days are longer to have a greater public presence throughout Spain.
At the end of June, King Felipe VI began a particular and intense Camino de Santiago that will end on the 25th precisely in the Galician city, with the offering to the Apostle on his big day. He will travel for the second consecutive year to the holy city accompanied by the whole family: Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía. That will be one of the main acts with which he will close his last week in Madrid before heading to Mallorca on July 30.
But before that, you have to go back 34 days to analyze the intense agenda of the Crown, and especially the King. Felipe VI closed June with a trip to Cantabria on the 23rd. He inaugurated the UIMP summer courses and visited the Palacio de la Magdalena, which had belonged to his family. He then passed through Jerez de la Frontera, on his first trip to the city as King, to visit Bodegas Osborne on his 300th anniversary. The engagement took place a day before the NATO Summit and while the Queen was receiving Jill Biden in the capital, who had an agenda prior to the international meeting.
Far from resting after the intense NATO week, the Crown designed an important program to be in Catalonia the following days. Thus, on Sunday, July 3, the Princess of Asturias and the Infanta Sofía visited the Dalí Museum in Figueres. It was the first time that the Heiress had visited the province of Girona and although strong security measures prevented anyone – neither monarchists nor republicans – from approaching the door, the Princess broke protocol to greet those who had traveled to Figueres, called by Royal Spanish Concord.
The next day, the whole family was at the awards ceremony in Barcelona, where the King and his heiress gave speeches. While that same night the Queen -who would test positive for Covid the next day- and her daughters left for Madrid, Don Felipe slept at the Palacete Albéniz, the official residence of the Royal Family in Barcelona. Because the Monarch took advantage of Tuesday to preside over the delivery of offices in Talarn, municipality of Lleida. In less than 48 hours, the Institution was present in three of the four Catalan provinces.
That week’s tour did not end there, because on Wednesday the King traveled to León, where he handed over the dispatches from the Basic Air Academy and on Sunday he went to Ermua to preside over the events on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the kidnapping and murder of Miguel White angel. Felipe VI, by the way, once again presided over an act related to terrorism. The King and the Institution have an unwavering commitment to the victims of ETA, whom they have always supported. However, in recent times the presence of the House in acts related to the victims has decreased due to the Government’s policy, which is the one who gives the final approval to the King’s agenda.
This last week, Felipe VI has finished it with the delivery of dispatches at the Marín Naval School this Saturday, July 16, Carmen day. Because the weekends in July are also the public presence of the Crown. And nine days later, the King, with the whole family, is scheduled to return to Galicia, to Santiago.
With the embrace of the Saint, he will close a month-long tour in which the King will have visited eight autonomous communities: Cantabria, Andalusia, Catalonia, Castilla y León, Euskadi, Extremadura, Galicia and the Community of Madrid (inside and outside the royal palaces). ). Half of the tour they did in Spain after the pandemic to reactivate tourism, when the Kings traveled to all the Autonomous Communities, but in much longer. Not only that, Felipe VI will have had direct contact with more than 10,000 people between audiences and events at the end of July. This month always coincides with the meetings in which Don Felipe receives people or majority groups. After Covid, the King has again received promotions from opponents -property registrars, tax inspectors…- much more majority, since he meets with the promotions with which he could not comply due to the pandemic. A total of 33 hearings and 29 public acts in 13 provinces of Spain in 34 days. Don Felipe has also dressed the three uniforms of Captain General of Land, Air and Navy and has delivered 10 speeches in Spanish, English and Catalan.
But the King has also had an international presence without leaving Spain. Because he served as Head of State during the NATO Summit. Thus, he received Joe Biden at the airport and held an audience with him. In addition, at the welcome dinner at the Royal Palace he was able to individually greet leaders from 40 countries and during the Summit hold meetings in Zarzuela with some. Specifically, with the presidents of Japan, Finland and Korea. Also with the highest representatives of the European Union, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the American Jewish Committee that awarded him the 2022 Gesher Award “for his permanent commitment to building bridges between our communities and nations”.
The King has combined all this with the weekly office with the President of the Government, with private audiences that are not made public and with the preparation of acts and speeches in his office at the Zarzuela Palace. An intense agenda before traveling to Palma, where he will spend a week between the Copa del Rey de Vela and work before traveling to the inauguration of the new president of Colombia.
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