It’s never time at Marivent. The stay of King Felipe and Queen Letizia at the summer palace always ends unexpectedly. At least, for the public. The Royal Family has already packed their bags to enjoy a few days of rest. It should be remembered that the King has a schedule to fulfill on August 14. This leaves just five days for the monarch, his wife and his daughters to enjoy a little time alone. With Princess Leonor in her military training and Infanta Sofia studying in Wales, there are few occasions when the Royal Family can meet together in recent times.
When everyone was expecting the traditional official photo shoot of the kings and their daughters in the summer, they have chosen to disappear. This year has been especially different. The celebration of the Olympic Games in Paris has meant that the Royal Family has spent the last few weeks accompanying, in turns, the Spanish delegations. Perhaps it is because of this activity that has prevented them from being together that they have decided bring forward your private vacation and avoid the family posing to which we are accustomed.
Felipe and Letizia, however, would have chosen a nearby destination so as not to have to spend too many days travelling. A place they know well and which has important ties with almost the entire Royal Family.
The Royal Family’s early private vacation
“I don’t think they are in Mallorca”. The journalist Mariàngel Alcázar, an expert on the Royal Family, pointed out that the kings and their daughters could have already left Palma de Mallorca. “The latest movements say that they have been in Greece.” This would be the destination chosen by the kings to spend the few days they have without cameras or photographers. The family would have headed to the birthplace of Queen Sofia to try to rest after the hustle and bustle of the Olympic Games. The king returned from Paris almost incognito and, then, everything was precipitated.
Just as speculation was already brewing about the date of the traditional official photo shoot in Marivent, the King and Queen packed their bags and travelled outside Spain. It is a common practice for the Royal Family. The moment when they relax and avoid prying eyes. A trip especially longed for by Queen Letizia who has never felt comfortable with holidays in Palma. The excessive presence of the media and the planned – and forced – appearances with her husband’s family have never been to her liking.
“There is a disagreement with Mallorca because since he arrived there has been too much attention,” says Alcázar. “He developed a certain animosity towards being there together and he got into the habit of going on private holidays and he considers that he doesn’t have those holidays in Mallorca because there are photographers and such. I think that Queen Letizia doesn’t quite fit in and they make appearances so that we can see themThis summer, it is true that we have seen them more than ever, both in Mallorca and, above all, in Paris.
A shorter vacation than usual
The kings and their daughters will have a few days to enjoy ‘anonymity’. King Felipe must travel next August 14 to attend the inauguration of the President of the Dominican Republic. That will be when we will see him again and hopefully Queen Letizia too. It already happened last year. Official commitments forced the King to be absent and his wife and daughters took advantage of the opportunity to make plans on the island, from going to the cinema to attending a farm school almost unexpectedly.
Shortly afterwards, it will be Infanta Sofía who will have to leave Spain to start her studies at the end of the month. The youngest of the family will follow in the footsteps of her sister Leonor and continue studying high school in Wales. She has one year left to graduate and could not be happier. There has been much speculation about the Infanta’s lack of interest during the outings in Palma de Mallorca. However, at the Olympic Games with her sister she shone more than ever.
Leonor should also be entering the second year of her military training shortly. King Felipe and Queen Letizia are now more alone than ever. Their daughters have left the baby and they have had to deal with empty nest syndrome. However, the schedules each of them has made it a little easier.
Goodbye to the official photo shoot in Palma de Mallorca
If this agenda is correct and the kings are already on their private vacation, There is no room left for official posingThis year, instead of appearing in front of the cameras like the previous years, they would have changed the pose for the outing with Queen Sofia, Irene of Greece and Princess Tatiana. A dinner in the city centre that would already serve to immortalise the summer of 2024. The many appearances at the Olympic Games and during the month of July have left enough images of the Royal Family. Or so it seems they will have thought.
It’s not that the photo shoot in Palma de Mallorca was too much to the liking, especially for Queen Letizia. Since both the emeritus kings and the infantas Elena and Cristina and their families were left out of the summers in Marivent, little by little everything that reminds us of the past has been dismantled. No mass, no photo shoot, nothing. The disagreement between Queen Letizia and Queen Sofia in the Cathedral of Palma is still lingering. Without a doubt, one of the most critical moments of recent years for the Crown. That memory leaves little desire to repeat it.
The King and Queen prefer to appear in a casual, studied manner. They can be seen in the centre of Palma, go shopping or go out to dinner and do the same as any other family. After all, these summer appearances hardly fit into the new strategy that Zarzuela is implementing. Maybe next year everything will be different.
