Eduardo González
King Felipe VI traveled to Kuwait yesterday to present his condolences for the death of the Emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The Monarch traveled without the company of any Government minister.
Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al Sabah passed away this past Saturday at the age of 86 and was buried on Sunday. The late Emir had succeeded in September 2020 (at the age of 83) his half-brother, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Yaber Al-Sabah, who died at the age of 91 and who had reigned since 2006 after serving as minister of Foreign Affairs (1963-2003) and Prime Minister (2003-2006).
King Felipe VI traveled accompanied by the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Luis Cuesta Civis; the ambassador of Spain in the State of Kuwait, Miguel Moro Aguilar; and the diplomatic advisor of the House of the Majesty of the King, Alfonso Sanz Portolés.
The Monarch was received upon his arrival at the Kuwait International Airport by Sheikh Mishal Al Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the new Emir of Kuwait (83 years old), with whom he held a brief meeting in which he expressed his condolences for the death of his half-brother and predecessor. After the meeting, and after being fired by the new Emir, the King began his return trip to Spain.
The new emir, 83 years old and the seventeenth in the history of the small Gulf country, has to swear in his new position before Parliament and, according to Kuwaiti law, has a period of one year to elect his crown prince.
Don Felipe has been present at similar ceremonies in Abu Dhabi (death of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, 2022), Oman (death of Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, 2020) or Saudi Arabia (death of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 2015). The King was unable to come to Kuwait in September 2020 following the death of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
