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Spain

Spain’s royals plan a visit to the White House during a tour of the United States

The King and Queen of Spain will undertake a high profile visit to the United States in the coming weeks. Felipe VI and his wife, Letizia, will spend four days in the country and the focal point of the visit will be an audience with the US President, Barack Obama, in the White House.

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King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain will visit the United States of America later this month

Felipe has met the US President before – last year the royal couple visited the United Nations in New York and were guests at a reception hosted afterwards by Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. But this trip will see Europe’s newest king and queen invited into the home of the President.

The Spanish king and his consort arrive in the United States on September 14th and the meeting with Barack Obama will take place the following day – which will also be Letizia’s 43rd birthday. September 15th will also see the royals visit the Washington Memorial before they go to George Washington’s Mount Vernon and later visit the Senate.

Day three, September 16th, will include a working breakfast at the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Washington and a meeting of Spanish scientists at the University of Georgetown, where Felipe was a student in the 1990s graduating with a Masters. The king and his wife fly to Miami for engagements on September 17th while their final day in America, September 18th, will see them visit St Augustine, Florida to help mark the city’s 450th anniversary.

The royal couple have made several overseas visits since Felipe became king on June 19th 2014 on the abdication of his father, Juan Carlos. In the past few months they have made a State Visit to France and another to Mexico. Queen Letizia has also made solo visits to Honduras and El Salvador this year and was also in Rome where she was named a UN Special Ambassador for nutrition.

Barack Obama has had several high profile royal visitors in recent times, welcoming The Duke of Cambridge to the White House in December 2014 during William and Kate’s visit to the US. And earlier this year he met King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands when they visited Washington.
Picture credit: By Sandra Besga (Felipe y Letizia) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons