The hand that yesterday directed the most curious plan of the
royal family was Letizia’s: a surprise to excite Felipe at the lunch that celebrated the ten years of the proclamation of King Felipe. It all happened in a matter of seconds:
the monarch made his toast, sat down and began to talk to the guest on her right. Without saying a word, Letizia looked at Leonor, sitting about ten meters away from her, and made a sign: “Now.” The Princess of Asturias stood up and, on the other side of the room, so did her sister, Infanta Sofía.
The two young women (remember: 18 and 17 years old) walked from the ends of the gala dining room of the Royal Palace to
stand in the center of the table, right behind Queen Letizia, where a microphone stand had been placed. Leonor, dressed in a suit,
he tried to start talking, but the table was so lively that the guests didn’t even notice. The monarch, regal, tapped her glass with the spoon so that the audience would take charge of the situation: her daughters were standing and waiting to toast.
“Sorry for sneaking in, but we also have something to say today,” Leonor began, with her cell phone already ready in her hand to read something on the screen. Next,
They both thanked their parents.. “Thank you for joining us to remember that in these ten years we have learned from our parents, which means the commitment that the four of us have with all Spaniards” And Sofía finished: “Dad, mom, thank you.”
In this very brief and emotional moment, one of the surprises of the day occurred, completely unexpected. Despite all of Leonor’s training, it was Infanta Sofía who said the best things.
two phrases that were given to him from his acceptance speech to their fathers, the kings, who had prepared. Where the princess of Asturias hesitates,
the infanta exhibits perfect diction. We already confirmed this at the 2023 Princesa de Girona, when both asked questions at an event.
Sofía de Borbón has inherited the expressivenessat least in his mother’s voice.
The king’s unshed tear
It was evident: Leonor and Sofía’s words were
an absolute surprise for the king, who was caught off guard, very low. So much so that we saw live how he struggled to contain his emotion. He even blew a kiss to the princess and the infanta,
skipping all protocols. The young women approached to kiss their mother, the brain behind the entire plan, and then her excited father.
The scene, very tender, is the perfect summary from what we saw yesterday: more of a family than a real family. There was more affection and naturalness than solemnity and control.
The contrast between this royal family and the previous one, under the leadership of King Emeritus Juan Carlos, is enormous. We never listen to the
infantas Elena and Cristina address their parents as such and neither did Juan Carlos and Sofía call their daughters anything other than “infantas.” However, Leonor and Sofía call the kings “dad” and “mom” and they do not name them by their title. This normality may surprise certain generations. It is not a product of improvisation, but part of the so-called ‘operation Leonor’.
Sofía and Leonor surprise their father on the tenth anniversary of his proclamation. /
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Commentators accredited in following the royal family analyzed the public image of the royal family and the comparison of balconies brought up the latest
Appearance of the Windsors on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The British monarchs, the princes of Wales and family and the rest of the royals watched the military spectacle undaunted. In the Borbón Ortiz family, a spontaneous and authentic naturalness prevails. On the central balcony of the Throne Room they did not stop talking, moving, pointing and commenting. With overwhelming tranquility. As if millions of people weren’t watching them.
Letizia, pending everything
On the balcony, a
Letizia who had to sit down on several occasions immediately caught attention. Wherever the queen goes, a stool inevitably comes. However, the tendency of the royal family to hide behind themselves, to seek bodily contact or maximum proximity, is increasingly striking. Although
At the beginning of the event they maintained a safe distance Between the four of them, they immediately broke it to form their well-known family front.
After watching the relief of the Royal Guard in the Plaza de la Armería of the Royal Palace,
The royal family went to greet their guests and, with them, go to the Columns room to begin the ceremony of awarding decorations to 19 citizens. The route was not complicated and, however, we saw Leonor and Sofía unsure, Queen Letizia giving constant instructions and the young women repositioning themselves again and again.
Leonor and Sofía, in the Royal Collections. /
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«Ten years ago, we commented
the control that Letizia had over the girls, who was very attentive and even seemed to be suffocating them. “She has been relaxing, but today we have seen Letizia again, attentive to her daughters,” he observed.
Patrycia Centeno, non-verbal communication expert and common in television analysis. “He told Sofía that she had to say hello and Leonor, to stand next to her.”
“Even Felipe has given instructions to Leonor,” Centeno reconsidered, when in the program Everything is a Lie they told her that more than a controlling mother, what they had seen were
two clueless young women. “I was very surprised that they depend so much on her parents,” the expert concluded.
Leonor and Sofía: more ease when they are alone
In the afternoon, without the supervision of her parents, we saw Leonor much more determined in the
visit to the Gallery of the Royal Collections along with a group of 40 young people. In fact, here it was Sofía who seemed a little lost when her sister joined her guests and chatted with them. The novelist María Dueñas guided the tour, but we were not able to listen to her story about the treasures of the royal family. The faces of her young audience did not reveal much.
lThe Royal Family enjoys Ara Malikian’s concert. /
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The last apparition of the night was made to wait until a quarter to eleven at night, when
the Lebanese-born violinist Ara Malikian He went out to one of the balconies of the Royal Palace that overlooks the Plaza de Oriente to perform. Meanwhile, images were projected on the façade that the kings and their daughters contemplated from the same square.
After greeting many attendees in the front row, Felipe, Letizia and their two daughters said goodbye in their style:
crowded together, arm-in-arm or shoulder-to-shoulder, in their well-known common front formation. Like a family, like a team, like a wall.
