Eduardo González The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica to the current US ambassador to Spain, Julissa Reynoso, who recently left her post to join the Democratic campaign for the US presidential elections. The Royal Decree granting the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica to Julissa Reynoso was approved this past Tuesday by the Council of Ministers at the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and signed the same day by King Felipe VI, as reported yesterday by the Official State Gazette (BOE). On June 21, Reynoso announced her intention to leave office this summer to collaborate with the American president, Joe Biden, in his candidacy for re-election to the White House. Biden recently renounced his candidacy, which has been assumed by the vice president, Kamala Harris. Reynoso, who arrived in Madrid two and a half years ago, has been replaced by the Minister Counselor, Rian Harker Harris, who remains as the Embassy's Chargé d'Affaires while waiting for the candidate who wins the presidential elections to nominate a new ambassador. Experience often shows that this process, which has to go through the United States Congress, is not very fast, so Harris will probably be in charge of business for at least a year. During the reception offered in Madrid on the occasion of the 248th anniversary of the independence of the United States, which is celebrated on July 4, Reynoso said that having been the United States ambassador in Madrid has been the honor of her life and that she was leaving with a “bittersweet” feeling, although comforted by the work and achievements made. The ambassador also highlighted the high level of contacts and bilateral visits, including that of Biden to Madrid on the occasion of the NATO summit in June 2022, and recalled that the American president called Spain a “friend” and “indispensable partner.” She also described as relevant the agreement that will allow the United States to send two more destroyers to the Rota Naval Base, bringing the total number of ships to six. The Foreign Ministry has also awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic to the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, who has been in office since 2014 and will be replaced on October 1 by the current Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The Order of Isabel la Católica is, hierarchically, the second most important distinction in Spain, after that of Carlos III, but it is appreciated as the first in the field of foreign relations. Instituted by King Ferdinand VII on March 14, 1815, with the name of “Royal and American Order of Isabel la Católica”, with the aim of “rewarding proven loyalty and merits acquired in favor of the prosperity of those territories”, it was reorganized in 1847, when it was renamed solely “Royal Order of Isabel la Católica” to distinguish - according to its Regulations - those “extraordinary behaviors of a civil nature, carried out by Spanish and foreign people, which redound to the benefit of the Nation or which contribute, in a relevant way, to favoring the relations of friendship and cooperation of the Spanish Nation with the rest of the International Community”. The King holds the position of Grand Master of the Order; The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, as Grand Chancellor of the Order, is the one who submits to the Council of Ministers the proposals for granting the higher grades of the Order, which are awarded by Royal Decree. More than 70,000 people in the world have this distinction in one of its different grades.
