It was shortly after 8:30 am on Thursday when King Felipe and Queen Letizia officially entered a deadly silent and sunny Plaza de la Armería, inside Madrid’s Royal Palace, to pay homage to the victims of COVID-19 and to celebrate the hope the vaccination campaign is slowly bringing back.
Their Majesties, dressed in semi-mourning (meaning dark colours, but not full black), had already greeted the authorities in a long lineup that snaked through the gallery connecting the Palace to the Plaza. Once they reached their seats, the National Anthem and the European Anthem were played.
The ceremony then continued with a short speech from the daughter of a surgeon who passed away from COVID-19 in April of 2020 in the same hospital he had worked in for 44 years. She highlighted the toll the pandemic had on everyone affected: the loneliness, the inability to be there when your loved ones pass away, the void they leave behind. She also called on authorities to never forget those who died, and, in their memory, keep moving forward with the vaccination campaign, because, thanks to the professionals of science and medicine, “science has won again.”
The master of ceremony then remarked how 120 medical workers have been awarded a posthumous civil merit honour, and the families of 102 of them were present to collect the awards, four of those professionals were also chosen to be awarded posthumous Grand Crosses for the Civil Order of Merit, of which King Felipe is High Commander.
On the notes of “Adagio” by Alessandro Marcello played by the Symphonic Orchestra of RTVE (Radio Television Española), the victim’s families came forward to receive the insignia of the honour from the hands of His Majesty the King.
The four medical workers who were honoured were:
Dr Joaquín Díaz Domínguez, chief of Surgery in the La Paz Hospital in Madrid;
Dr Jesús Algaba, ENT specialist, the oldest medical professional victim to date;
Pablo Riesgo, helping nurse, the youngest victim – when he passed away in February of 2021, he was only 26 years old;
Dr Nedialka Veleva, born in Bulgaria, but a Spanish citizen; she had been residing in Spain since 1995.
The homage then continued with the lighting of a flame in the middle of the Plaza, and a floral homage by Their Majesties, who placed a laurel wreath with a ribbon in the colours of the Spanish flag in front of the flame monument. There was a minute of silence, followed by spontaneous applause.
The event moved on to the more hopeful side of things: there was a short intervention by Araceli Hidalgo, the first person to receive a vaccine in Spain, and her family. She specifically invited the young group of the population to get vaccinated and to keep the hope going for many more people than just themselves.
It was then time for King Felipe to speak. With visible emotion, he addressed the victims’ families and assured them of the entire government’s support and pain. He then moved on to talk about the importance of vaccinations, not only to honour the victims but to get out of the current situation and start building a better future for the next generations.
The event ended with an interpretation of Josu Elberdín’s “Por esto estamos juntos” [“For this we are together”], played by the RTVE Symphony Orchestra and sung by the Orfeón Pamplonés.
Following the ceremony, Their Majesties held a meeting with the families of those medical professionals who passed away during the pandemic.
