A stomach bug threw a wrench in the plans of the Spanish Royal Family for their last day in the Principality of Asturias, where they arrived on Thursday to take part in the events for the Princess of Asturias Awards.
On Saturday, 29 October, King Felipe, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía were scheduled to visit Cadavéu (or Cadavedo in Castilian Spanish), a small village in the municipality of Valdés that received the Princess of Asturias Award for Exemplary Village.
The royals were scheduled to arrive around noon; already ten minutes late, the Royal House released a press note saying that the King, Queen and Princess were going to arrive at 12:20 pm and that Infanta Sofía had to pull out of the morning altogether because she was feeling “unwell.”
It was a long, 58 minutes past noon when King Felipe, Queen Letizia and Princess Leonor finally made their appearance at the entrance of Cadavéu, where they were greeted by locals and authorities, including the Mayor of Valdés and the President of the Cadavéu cultural association.
They watched a traditional dance performance from the local folklore group La Regalina (named after the local worship of the Virgin Mary) before Queen Letizia received a drawing from a local girl whom she, as well as the rest of her family, hugged.
The family didn’t waste any time walking around the village, frequently stopping to greet some of the 435 inhabitants of the town. King Felipe was seen holding the rod given to him by the Mayor of Valdés, symbolising power and authority.
Shortly after, Queen Letizia stopped in front of one of the local television stations and briefly chatted with one of the reporters, telling her that Infanta Sofía was ‘resting’ because she had had a ‘bad night’ and that it was nothing serious.
Their visit through the village continued in one of Cadavéu’s artisanal shops, where they were gifted handmade alpargatas (the flat espadrilles). In another shop, they met with two locals who create and care for many of the traditional dresses of the area, which are often rented for special occasions.
They then briefly stopped at the site of an ancient laundry room and well, where they listened to three poems in the local dialect about the Way of St James; one of the people reciting them subsequently gifted the royals a volume about the relation between Cadavéu and the Camino, and a local woman named Helena presented them with a cross-stitched image of a local landscape.
It was then the turn of sports to shine when the three royals met a group of cyclists, two mountaineers and two surfers that operate in the area and heard from them about the opportunities for sporting activities offered by the region.
The King, Queen and Princess then arrived at the local school, where they met with the children attending it. After a brief chat, Princess Leonor was offered a shovel, and she helped a local boy plant a new tree to substitute the old cypress that would need to be taken down in a couple of years.
It was then time for one of the two most awaited moments: Princess Leonor removed the blue fabric draped over it and uncovered the plaque commemorating the visit and the receiving of the award. The plaque is placed on a boulder taken from a local cave.
After a short meeting with the village’s elderly population, the royals jumped in their cars to make the short trip to the native house of Padre Galo, one of the most famous figures in the area. It is thanks to him that the local dialect, called faliecha, didn’t get lost in time.
Inside the house, and away from public eyes, they visited the museum dedicated to Padre Galo’s works, as well as the “home” part. They were supposed to watch a brief demonstration of how to prepare two of the most typical local dishes, called rapa (a pie made with corn flour and filled with pig products) and alfilada (a dessert that is typically gifted by godparents to their godchildren).
They reemerged from the house, and then Princess Leonor disappeared from the public’s eyes. The King and Queen, nonetheless, made their way back to the village, where they got on stage for the “institutional” portion of the morning: the prize ceremony. It started raining again, so many umbrellas popped up in the public.
After a speech from the Mayor of Valdés, King Felipe handed the diploma certifying Cadavéu as the Asturias Exemplary Village for 2022 to Ángel Luis Valverde Martínez, the President of the La Regalina cultural association.
The pregonero (crier in English) of La Regalina then flamboyantly read a poem written for the occasion in faliecha; one particular passage invited the Princess and the Infanta when they will get engaged, to get married in the village, which is a highly sought-after spot for weddings throughout the principality.
It should have then been the turn of Princess Leonor’s speech, and she was still nowhere to be seen; Queen Letizia took the microphone and explained that, like her sister, Princess Leonor was also suffering from gastroenteritis and that, regrettably, she wasn’t feeling up to completing her day in Cadavéu. She had, therefore, returned to Oviedo, where she would also rest together with her sister.
The Queen then went on to read the speech that Princess Leonor had prepared for the occasion, in which she thanked the people of the village for their efforts in keeping the village alive while also bringing on the necessary innovations to keep up with the times and make the ecological transition.
King Felipe then took the microphone and, after briefly addressing the absence of both his daughters, as well as the rain that has intermittently fallen on the visit, congratulated the village for their will “to live in harmony, to organise yourselves to move forward initiatives that have made the landscape, the resources and your ancestors’ legacy better.”
The monarch and consort then jumped back on their cars and travelled to Campo de la Garita, where they were welcomed by a folklore music group’s performance. They had to put on jackets and open their umbrellas as the rain had intensified and the temperatures had somewhat dropped.
They were briefly shown inside the small church that is almost perched on the cliff facing the local beach before they had a brief walk to admire the views of the small bay underneath. They then watched the performance of the local dance, called Danza Prima, which is made in a circle, at the centre of which there is an offer to the Virgin Mary.
Cadavéu was selected for the Princess of Asturias Award for Exemplary Village among 25 candidates; in their decision document, the jury said partly that the village was selected because of “its ability to maintain production diversity in a rural environment, with which they managed to stabilise the population and ensure a generational change, and for being a lively and organised community.”
The gastroenteritis bug that decimated the family in the last 12 hours made this the most unusual Exemplary Village visit since the award was created in 1990. Queen Letizia has promised that the family would be back in its entirety since the girls had to miss the day or at least parts of it.
