<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the awarding of the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic to the former Portuguese ambassador to Spain, João António da Costa Mira Gomes, at the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares.</strong></h4> João Mira Gomes, ambassador to Spain from February 2020 to February 2025, has a diplomatic career spanning more than 40 years. Before being stationed in Madrid, Mira Gomes held other positions, including ambassador and permanent representative of Portugal to NATO, Secretary of State for National Defense and Maritime Affairs of the 17th Constitutional Government (2006-2009), and Minister Counselor at the Portuguese Embassy in Paris. After five years of mission in Spain, he has been appointed Portuguese ambassador to the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva. His successor is the current ambassador, José Augusto Duarte, who thus returns to the Portuguese Embassy in Madrid, where he previously served in 2005. Awarded the Cross of Officer of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Merit, he has held, among other positions, the positions of advisor to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and ambassador to Mozambique, China, and France. He was appointed ambassador to Spain by President Rebelo de Sousa on March 14. The Order of Isabella the Catholic is, hierarchically, the second highest distinction in Spain, after that of Charles III, but is highly regarded as the highest in the field of foreign relations. Instituted by King Ferdinand VII on March 14, 1815, under the name "Royal and American Order of Isabella the Catholic," with the aim of "rewarding unwavering loyalty and merits acquired in support of the prosperity of those territories," it was reorganized in 1847, when it was renamed simply "Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic" to recognize—as indicated in its Regulations—those "extraordinary acts of a civil nature, carried out by Spanish and foreign individuals, which benefit the Nation or contribute, in a relevant way, to fostering relations of friendship and cooperation between the Spanish Nation and the rest of the international community." The King serves as Grand Master of the Order, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as Grand Chancellor, submits to the Council of Ministers proposals for the awarding of the higher ranks of the Order, which are granted by Royal Decree. More than 70,000 people around the world hold this distinction in one of its various degrees.
