Wednesday 30 November 2016

Spanish State Visit to Portugal: Day Three


King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain on day three of their State Visit to Portugal
(photo casareal Twitter)

King Felipe of Spain addressed the Portuguese Parliament on the final day of his three day State Visit to the country.  It is a rare honour and one that clearly meant a lot to Felipe as he followed in his father's footsteps at the end of this trip. There was also a visit to a hospital and a chance to meet some of the large Spanish community in Portugal on day three. Welcome to the final part of Felipe and Letizia's State Visit.



The visit to the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic, at the San Bento Palace, was the first stop on Felipe and Letizia's last day.

After being welcomed to the building, Queen Letizia took her seat while her husband took his place in front of the assembly to deliver a speech - few Heads of State are accorded this honour and his father, Juan Carlos I, was the first to be asked to speak to the parliament for eighty years during his own visit of 1989.




King Felipe told the Assembly that both Spain and Portugal wanted to continue building strong ties throughout Europe and said that the bonds between the two countries had never been closer.



Following his speech, Felipe along with Letizia hosted a reception at the Spanish Embassy in Lisbon for some of their compatriots living and working in Portugal.



The final engagement of this tour also had memories of Felipe's parents as the King and Queen of Spain visited the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon which is a leader in the field of oncological research and which recently welcomed Queen Sofia.



Felipe and Letizia were given a tour of some of the work going on there and they met researchers and experts.

Then it was time to say farewell and head home to Spain. Their overseas programme has been somewhat curtailed this year because of the political situation in Spain but as the new government there settles in, the royal agenda is returning to normal and this State Visit has proved a successful start to a new era of engagements.

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