Eduardo González
The Royal House has decided this Wednesday to shorten the official trip of King Felipe VI to Jordan, in which Queen Letizia will ultimately not participate, due to the increase in tension in the area after the start of Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon and the subsequent massive bombing by Iran against several Israeli cities.
King Felipe and Queen Letizia had planned to make an official visit to Jordan on October 5, 6 and 7 at the invitation of King Abdullah II. However, the Royal Household’s agenda reports on Wednesday that Felipe VI will only travel accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and that the visit will be shortened by one day and will conclude on Sunday.
According to sources from Zarzuela, the decision has been taken by the Royal Household in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Jordanian Royal Household, with whom it remains in permanent contact.
The escalation of tension had even raised doubts that the trip would take place. Jordan closed its respective airspace last Tuesday after the massive missile attack carried out by Iran against Israel, although it was later reopened. In addition, the Jordanian Army asked its citizens not to leave their homes because of the launching of “hundreds of Iranian missiles” against Israel, whose impacts could be heard in the country.
According to the Royal House, Felipe VI will be officially received by King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan at the Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman, will hold a meeting with a representation of the Spanish community in Jordan and will attend various cultural activities and a business meeting.
The trip, the first of the Monarch to Jordan since his accession to the Throne ten years ago, is part of “the good relations that both countries maintain” and constitutes “a propitious opportunity to express the desire to continue strengthening the deep historical, political, cultural and human ties that exist between Jordan and Spain,” said the Royal House.
Abdullah II (especially involved in the search for a solution to the Middle East conflict) traveled to Spain on up to two occasions in 2023. The first was in June, accompanied by Queen Rania, on the occasion of the celebration of the meeting of the Aqaba Process, which took place in Córdoba. He was received by Felipe VI, with whom he agreed (four months before the outbreak of the current conflict in the Middle East) in defending the two-state solution.
In December 2023, Abdullah II returned to Madrid, where he was received by Felipe VI and by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, before whom he defended an increase in international pressure to stop the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and thanked “Spain’s position” in favor of a ceasefire and the two-state solution to end the conflict.
Sánchez himself visited Jordan at the beginning of April as part of a tour of the Middle East to defend a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, promote the two-state solution and the recognition of the Palestinian State and gather support for the peace conference proposed by Spain. The head of the Executive returned to Jordan two months later, in June, to participate in the International Conference on Gaza, co-organized by the Jordanian and Egyptian governments and the United Nations. That trip took place two weeks after the Spanish Government publicly announced its recognition of the State of Palestine.
