Felipe VI wants to celebrate his first 10 years as head of State with a message to society. Just three words: service, commitment and duty. Three concepts that the King repeats in his speeches and that he wants to be present in the “renewed monarchy for a new time” that he promised ten years ago. Along with this emblem, published this morning by La Zarzuela, the King has also unveiled a seal. Both will be valid for one year. The design, La Zarzuela explains, integrates different signs: the coat of arms of Felipe VI under a crimson background, which is his constitutional symbol, and the message “X Anniversary” along with the aforementioned motto “service, commitment and duty”. With this message, La Zarzuela inaugurates a day full of activities to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of Felipe de Borbón y Grecia as King of Spain – due to the abdication of his father, Juan Carlos I – in the Cortes Generales. .
First thing in the morning, La Zarzuela will hold a solemn flag raising to mark a day full of celebrations, which will move to the Royal Palace and surrounding areas. Already in the heart of Madrid, several companies of the Civil Guard and the three Armies will form in the Plaza Mayor. From there, and accompanied by a music band, they will walk along Calle Mayor to the Royal Palace, where at 11:30 they will change the guard in the esplanade of the Plaza de la Armería. Felipe VI and Doña Letizia will attend the event from the balcony of the Palace along with their daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía. Both have moved to Madrid for the anniversary, since the Princess of Asturias is in the final stretch of her military training at the Zaragoza Academy in the Army – and at the end of summer she will join the Navy in Marín (Pontevedra) – and Infanta Sofía is studying high school at the UWC Atlantic College in Wales (United Kingdom).
At mid-morning, the events will move inside the Royal Palace. There, the Kings and their daughters will award 19 citizens, one from each autonomous community plus Ceuta and Melilla, of different ages and professions that represent the reality of day-to-day life in Spain, the Order of Civil Merit award. Felipe VI will make a speech before all the powers of the State. It will be the fourth time that Felipe VI decorates anonymous citizens after he did so in 2015, on the occasion of his first anniversary as monarch; in 2019, in fifth; and in 2021, when he recognized those who were on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía, protagonists of the afternoon
In the afternoon, however, the spotlight will be on Princess Leonor and her sister, Infanta Sofía. At 8:00 p.m., they will take a tour of the Royal Collections Gallery, attached to the Royal Palace, together with a group of 40 young people between 17 and 20 years old who once won the contest ‘What is a king to you?’ . The person who will act as a guide during the visit will be the writer María Dueñas. Meanwhile, the Royal Guard will entertain the Plaza de Oriente with a free concert. Right there, and from one of the Palace balconies, the Lebanese-born violinist Ara Malikian will offer another concert open to the public. The final touch to the day of celebration will consist of the projection of images on the façade of the Royal Palace from the reign of Felipe VI as a guiding thread. The scheduled passes are scheduled for 10:45 p.m., 11:00 p.m., 11:15 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.
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On Thursday the Kings will inaugurate in the Prince’s Gallery of the Royal Palace an exhibition of 23 already known photos but this time they are large in size titled Felipe VI 2014-2024. A decade of history of the Crown of Spain. This exhibition wants to reflect moments “of great institutional significance”, such as the proclamation of Felipe VI or the tribute to the victims of the coronavirus. It will be open to the public for free until October 20. From then on, it will become a traveling exhibition that will visit other cities in Spain such as Zaragoza, Granada, Seville, Malaga or Valencia throughout 2024 and the first half of 2025.
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