Luis Ayllón
The Royal Household is preparing the King and Queen’s international appointments until the end of the year, which will begin with a trip by Doña Letizia to Paraguay, which will take place from 2 to 5 November, as The Diplomat has learned from reliable sources.
At the end of November, around the 24th, there will be a state visit by the King and Queen of Spain to Sweden, and finally, dates are being sought for a visit to Spain by the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, before the end of 2021.
The positive evolution of the pandemic is favouring the resumption of the Crown’s international commitments, which have been very limited in recent months. Don Felipe and Doña Letizia have only recently travelled to Andorra and received the President of South Korea in Spain. Separately, since the pandemic broke out, the King has only travelled to Ecuador and Peru to attend the inaugurations of the new presidents of those countries, while the Queen travelled to Honduras in December 2020.
Now, Doña Letizia is preparing a new cooperation trip, this time to Paraguay, starting on the 2nd, where she will visit, accompanied by the country’s first lady, Silvana López, several projects in which Spain is involved, including the former Jesuit missions.
Recently, following the presentation of Letters of Credence to the President, Mario Abdo Benítez, by the new Spanish ambassador to Asunción, Carmen Castiella, the Paraguayan Foreign Minister, Euclides Acevedo, recalled that Spain is the biggest donor in Paraguay of all the European Union countries.
Specifically, the Spanish government promised to send one million vaccines against COVID-19 and has already delivered most of them.
The Queen’s visit will precede Mario Abdo Benítez’s visit to Spain, scheduled for early 2022.
A state visit by the King and Queen to Sweden is being prepared for the end of November. The dates have not been officially announced by either of the two royal houses, but the 24th and 25th are being considered.
Sweden has recently resumed international visits and has already received the President of Germany. Now, Carl Gustaf and Silvia are preparing to receive the King and Queen of Spain, in a visit that will include official lunches, joint events and other activities that are customary for this type of visit.
It so happens that Sweden will share the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union with Spain in 2023, as the Swedes will hold the presidency during the first half of the year and Spain during the second. This is leading to greater contact between the two governments, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will travel to Sweden this Wednesday, where he will take part in the Malmö Forum.
The King and Queen’s international agenda will have its third appointment before the end of the year, possibly in December, with the visit of the Italian President, Sergio Matarella, who will thus return the visit that Don Felipe and Doña Letizia made to Italy in November 2014, when Giorgio Napolitano was Head of State in Italy.
