Once again we see Queen Letizia sitting at an official event. On this occasion, during the hand-kissing ceremony at the reception that the King and Queen, together with Queen Sofia, offered this Monday at the Marivent Palace in Palma.
The cause is for a very important reason. A few months ago we learned about the condition that is keeping Letizia Ortiz in poor shape: it is Morton’s neuroma, the physical problem she suffers from in her feet, the reason why she has been forced to use a high chair for adults when greeting the 600 guests who attended the event.
Queen Letizia thus reproduces the image she first showed on April 17 in Amsterdam during her state visit to Holland, when she also sat down at the hand-kissing ceremony at the gala dinner with the Dutch kings.
The Queen’s chronic injury to her left foot, which is the result of chronic metatarsalgia that she has had for years due to wearing high heels, is compounded by a fractured phalanx in one of her right toes, which she also suffered at the end of April, which has forced her to wear flat shoes in public events, for the time being.
Due to the chronic condition and the fact that she has not fully recovered from the bone fracture, this pain tends to intensify when she is standing for long periods of time in a static position. This is the specific and detailed reason why the Royal Family has chosen to place a high chair to receive the numerous guests, flanked by Felipe VI and Queen Sofia, who have remained standing.
Queen Sofia joins the hand-kissing ceremony at Marivent
Francina Armengol, president of the Congress of Deputies, was in charge of opening the hand-kissing ceremony, followed by Cándido Conde-Pumpido, president of the Constitutional Court. Among the institutional officials, there were also the president of the Balearic Parliament, Gabriel Le Senne, from Vox; the president of the island councils and the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez.
On behalf of civil society, there were representatives from numerous sectors, including business organisations, trade unions, religious denominations, culture, sport, health and gastronomy.
As usual, the King and Queen have invited the winners of the Ramon Llull Prize and the University Excellence Prize awarded this year.
For the third consecutive year, the reception for Balearic society was held in the gardens of the Marivent Palace as a gesture of opening up the official residence of the royal family in Palma to the public. The reception represented the first image together of Don Felipe and Doña Letizia since they settled in Palma last Saturday after returning from the Olympic Games in Paris.
The event in Marivent was the public debut in Palma this summer for Queen Sofia, who is a regular at receptions for civil society.
Felipe VI’s mother suffered yesterday, Sunday, the loss of Miguel of Greece and Denmark, her second cousin, who died at the age of 85, and whose funeral she will attend next Thursday.
Leonor and Sofia’s absence in Marivent
As expected, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia did not attend the reception – they have never done so – as they have been in the French capital since Saturday, when they took over from their parents.
Queen Letizia plans to travel to the Parisian capital on Wednesday and Felipe VI will do so on Sunday, once the Copa del Rey sailing competition is over.
The successive presence of the royal family at the Olympic event to support Spanish athletes means that for now there are no activities scheduled in which the kings will participate with their daughters, who usually pose for the press every summer.
The Mallorcan chefs Marga Coll and Maca de Castro were in charge of preparing the reception catering, with a selection of sweet and savoury appetizers made with typical Balearic products, such as meat, escabeche, aubergine, coca, octopus, tumbet and cheese.
