The Princess of Girona Foundation Awards return to this province for the second consecutive year. After the complicated years of the process and the speech given by Felipe VI in 2017 as a result of the independence challenge, the King and Queen, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía, have chosen the town of Lloret de Mar for the celebration of this new edition. The event – attended by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, the leader of the PSC, Salvador Illa, and the former minister Carmen Calvo – coincides with the 15th anniversary of the creation of the Foundation and Felipe VI wanted to thank all those involved in this task. In his speech at the awards ceremony, which he began in Catalan, the King acknowledged that this initiative represents an “opportunity” for the Princess – and the Infanta – to “continue learning and progressing in their responsibilities” as future head of state.
“Always with the young” is a commitment that remains “unchangeable”, said the King, who began his speech referring to the young person of the moment, the 16-year-old footballer Lamine Yamal: “This generation is the one that makes us have so much confidence in the future of our country. And if we talk about the spark that Lamine Yamal gave us last night, everything is said”, he began. Felipe VI and the Queen created the Foundation in 2009 with the aim of helping the new generations to advance professionally, as well as creating bridges with Catalonia. “I was three years old when my parents promoted this project (…) and today, 15 years later, it grows with strength, determination and results”, said Leonor in a speech, in which she told a story that intertwined the lives of the award winners, alternating Spanish and Catalan.
This Wednesday is the fifth time that the princess has attended the ceremony – the first time when she is of legal age – and after her words, Felipe VI declared himself proud as a King and excited as a father. “We see you, your mother.” [la reina Letizia] and I, every day more responsible, more attentive and interested in what happens, in what we do as an Institution and in how to help do it better and in how to continue improving in our desire not only to fulfill the institutional objectives, but to get involved in society in so many ways”, he said. “Leonor, Sofía, thank you!” exclaimed the King in a nod to the improvised intervention of his daughters on the day of the tenth anniversary of his proclamation at the Royal Palace. The gesture of complicity unleashed a smile from the Queen and the Princess, and a laugh from the Infanta Sofía.
Actress Victoria Luengo has received the 2024 Princess of Girona Award for the Arts. Luengo shared the spotlight at the ceremony with dozens of young people and the other five award winners: businessman Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros (Business), biologist and geneticist Moisés Expósito-Alonso (Scientific Research), architect Daniel Millor Vela (Social) and chemical engineer Susana Arrechea (CreaEmpresa International), who is competing in the international debut category with researcher Yarivith Carolina González (Research International). The award winners received their prizes at a ceremony at the Lloret de Mar Conference Centre.
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“We are delighted to welcome so many special guests, including the King and Queen, despite the diverse opinions of the 44,000 inhabitants and 110 nationalities,” said the town’s socialist mayor, Adrià Lamelas. And the fact is that holding these awards again in the capital of Girona – one of the bastions of Catalan independence – “would not benefit anyone” at this time, according to sources from the Foundation a few days ago. In fact, the president (in office) of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, who is also the vice-president of the Foundation due to his position, did not attend the ceremony. He did not do so at the last edition either. The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, accompanied the King and Queen and their daughters.
Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía held a meeting this morning with thirty young people from the Foundation’s various programmes, where the new documentary about the participants in the Generación docente programme was screened. At midday, the Princess, the Infanta and the King and Queen met with the Foundation’s new Young Advisory Council. The fifteenth edition kicked off on Tuesday with a visit by Leonor and Sofía to the studio-workshop of the sculptor Jaume Plensa. As usual, the sisters visit a place of interest alone and without the presence of the King and Queen – in 2023 it was Ferrán Adriá’s ElBulli1846 museum.
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