Felipe VI and Juan Carlos I meet again at the reception of Charles III at Buckingham

King Felipe VI met his father this Sunday at a reception the new King of England hosted for dignitaries attending Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral this Monday, with both in attendance. Queen Letizia as Sofia.

As it happened, when they saw each other on May 23 in Zarzuela, where it was the first family reunion since Juan Carlos moved to the United Arab Emirates, there was no press at the time.

From Zarzuela’s side, they have emphasized in recent days, after announcing that both the king and the monarch’s parents will come to London, that everything related to the organization and protocol will be in accordance with the British authorities, so we will have to wait to see if the British royal family will release some picture of them.

The reception offered by King Carlos III and Queen Camilla is unprecedented, given the large number of guests, several hundred. Among them were kings, presidents and prime ministers from around the world, as well as some of the most famous figures in British political life, including the new “Prime Minister”, Liz Truss.

As will happen in the run-up to the funeral this Monday, many of those attending the reception arrived at Buckingham Palace in several buses, including the royals, who arrived in one of them, which included the presidents of Austria and Poland. others.

Juan Carlos and Sofia arrived about an hour earlier on another bus. Emeritus, with obvious mobility issues, walked with the aid of a cane and an assistant, with the Queen Emeritus both in deep mourning.

Few details have been released by the British royal family about what the reception will look like, other than guests will be welcomed into a picture gallery and offered drinks and canapés.

It is also not clear which members of the British royal family will be in attendance beyond the new monarch and his wife, although local media have speculated that the Princes of Wales will also be present.

First action after 2019

For the King Emeritus, this will be the first act of an institutional nature in which he has participated since he retired from public life on June 2, 2019.

The former monarch did not want to turn down an invitation the British royal family sent him in his capacity as former head of state to attend the funeral of Elizabeth II, to whom he was also related, as both were great-grandchildren. About the victory of the Queen of England.

This occasion allowed Juan Carlos to meet again other sovereigns who also attended the reception, such as the kings of Sweden, Norway, Belgium or the Netherlands, as well as the Queen of Denmark. The Emperor of Japan, the kings of Jordan and some sovereigns of the Persian Gulf countries, such as the Emir of Qatar, also traveled to London.

The monarchs and emeritus will meet again on Monday for the funeral of the Queen of England for seven decades at Westminster Abbey, although on this occasion, protocol does not expect all four to sit together. Felipe, as head of state, should sit in the first row of guests, not Juan Carlos.

Felipe and Letizia traveled to London on a Spanish Air Force plane, along with Doña Sofia and accompanied by Foreign Minister José Manuel Albarez, while Juan Carlos arrived on his own from Abu Dhabi, where he set up your permanent residence. residence.

In the British capital, the king and queen will stay at the residence of the Spanish ambassador, José Pascual Marco, while the emeritus will stay at the same hotel “for logistical and organizational reasons,” according to Zarzuela.

The government has made it clear that the Emeritus will not travel to London on behalf of Spain, but by personal invitation. Spokeswoman Isabel Rodríguez declined to comment on Juan Carlos’ presence, but emphasized that the head of state is Felipe and therefore he is leading the Spanish delegation.