Fiona Govan
SPAIN’S King Felipe VI has sent a heartfelt message of condolence to his fellow monarch and relative, Queen Elizabeth on the passing of her husband Prince Philip.
The Spanish king was among those monarchs, heads of state and prime ministers across the world, both past and present, to express sadness at news of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 99.
The telegram starting with the greeting “Dear Aunt Lilibet” and mourned the passing of “Dear Uncle Philip”. It was signed “all our love and affection” by both King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia.
“We shall never forget the moments that we shared with him and the legacy of service and dedication to the Crown and the United Kingdom by your side,” they told the Queen.
King Felipe VI is related to both Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on both his mother’s and father’s side.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Elizabeth are distant cousins both descended from Queen Victoria and Queen Sofia and Prince Philip were cousins within the Greek royal family.
The Spanish royals last visited Britain on a state visit in June 2017 when Queen Elizabeth spoke of ‘resilient spirit of cooperation and goodwill’ between UK and Spain.
“With such a remarkable shared history, it is inevitable that there are matters on which we have not always seen eye to eye,” she said during a banquet at Buckingham Palace, possibly remarking on Gibraltar.
“But the strength of our friendship has bred a resilient spirit of cooperation and goodwill.
The Queen has made only one state visit to Spain, in October 1998 when she addressed Spain’s parliament and paid tribute to the nation’s peaceful transition to democracy after the death of Franco in 1975.
But the pair did step foot on the Iberian peninsula back in 1954 when the Queen and Prince Philip brought Prince Charles and Princess Anne (then just four and three years old) on a tour of the Rock.
They arrived on HMS Britannia to spend a two day visit which is still talked about as one of the greatest events in Gibraltar’s history.
