Portugal. The neighboring country, with so many historical ties with Spain, will receive Princess Leonor on July 12 in what will be her first official international trip, according to a statement published this Thursday. With this announcement, the Princess of Asturias becomes the absolute protagonist of the Royal House during the month of July, in which she will also visit Zaragoza, to collect her office as ensign of the Army; Catalonia, where the Princess of Girona awards will be held; and Marín (Pontevedra), where she will accompany her father, Felipe VI, to the delivery of dispatches and will take the opportunity to visit the Naval Military School where she will enter at the end of August.
Princess Leonor, 18, continues with this visit to Portugal, which will last just one day and will be limited to Lisbon, taking steps in her training for what she is called to exercise in the future: the head of the State. The chosen destination is not trivial. The Portuguese president, the conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, maintains an excellent relationship with the Kings of Spain, especially since his last inauguration, in 2021 (the first was in 2016) and will receive the princess at the Belém Palace . Since then, La Zarzuela points out, the idea of Portugal being the first international destination of an official trip for the princess was already floating around in Felipe VI’s head. An idea that Rebelo de Sousa has materialized with the “express invitation” to Leonor. “The choice of Portugal as the destination of the first official trip of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Asturias abroad reflects and reinforces the ties of fraternity and closeness that unite both countries,” underlines the joint statement from the Presidency of Portugal and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Spanish Cooperation.
The visit of the princess, who will be received at the Belém Palace by the Portuguese president, will have an agenda focused on environmental protection and ocean conservation, according to the note published by the Presidency of the Republic on its website.
The Princess of Asturias, who will start the month of July with several solo events, will be received with all the honors of an official visit in Lisbon and will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, according to a statement, which will meet also with his Portuguese counterpart, Paulo Rangel. During her visit, the Princess of Asturias will discuss issues related to environmental protection and ocean conservation. Leonor de Borbón Ortiz thus follows in the footsteps of her father who in 1983, at only 15 years old, made her first official trip, in this case to Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the foundation. her.
The geography of the Iberian Peninsula has meant that the history of the two countries has often crossed paths and has gone through different phases since Portugal declared its independence as a kingdom in the 12th century. This link included a period of dynastic unity between 1580 and 1640 under three Habsburg kings (Philip II, Philip III and Philip IV), which ended with the Portuguese rebellion to regain its independence. The House of Braganza reigned in Portugal from then on until 5 October 1910, when the republic was proclaimed from the balcony of Lisbon’s town hall.
In the 20th century, Spain and Portugal experienced parallel events. They were the two countries in Western Europe with the longest dictatorships. The Portuguese, which lasted almost half a century, had Salazar and Marcelo Caetano as the visible heads of a regime that persecuted opponents, fueled three colonial wars in Africa and fostered poverty that caused the emigration of one and a half million people. That dictatorship fell on April 25, 1974 with the Carnation Revolution. A year later Francisco Franco died in Madrid and, with the Transition, democracy arrived in Spain.
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The relationship between the Spanish monarchy and Portugal is also a family affair, as Don Juan, Felipe VI’s grandfather, settled with his family in Estoril, some 25 kilometres from Lisbon, to be close to Spain in his attempt to reinstate the monarchy in the country. The now emeritus king, Juan Carlos I, spent part of his childhood in the Portuguese city. After the democratisation of both countries, the relationship has become closer. In addition to joining the European Commission at the same time, both have strengthened their economic ties and maintain an evident harmony between their leaders, even when there are differences between the political families that govern. The Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, travelled to Spain on his first international trip after winning the elections last March. And President Pedro Sánchez has been one of the main promoters of the candidacy of the Portuguese António Costa to preside over the European Council.
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