The Diplomat
Seven new ambassadors will present their Letters of Credence to King Felipe VI on Monday, in a ceremony that will take place as is traditional at the Royal Palace in Madrid from 10am.
The ceremony will open with the Ambassador of Sudan, Maha Suleiman Taha Ayub, followed by the Ambassadors of Slovakia, Juraj Tomaga; the Sultanate of Oman, Omar Said Omar Al Kathiri; the Democratic Republic of Congo, Geneviève Victorine Lukasa Kayembe; Colombia, Eduardo Ávila Navarrete; Honduras, Marlon Antonio Brevé Reyes; and Japan, Takahiro Nakamae.
This will be the first presentation of Credentials to be held in 2023, two days before the King receives all the ambassadors accredited in Spain, also at the Royal Palace, during the traditional reception for the Diplomatic Corps.
The presentation of Letters of Credence is one of the most solemn ceremonies in the diplomatic life of a country. Spanish protocol is one of the oldest and most prestigious in Europe, dating back to 1527, when King Charles I established a specific protocol of Burgundian origin for the reception of foreign envoys.
However, it was in 1562 that Philip II ordered the creation of the Palace Etiquette, which detailed, among other things, all the Court ceremonies. Today, the ceremony remains practically intact in its development, with the logical adaptations to the times, as Philip V established in his Ceremonial Regulations of 1717.
