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Spain

Infanta Elena of Spain to undertake her first official engagement in two years

The Spanish Royal Household has announced that Infanta Elena, the oldest sister to King Felipe, will preside over her first official engagement in approximately two years. 

When King Juan Carlos I abdicated in 2014, The Royal Family was reduced to just the King and Queen, their daughters and the former King and Queen, Juan Carlos and Sofìa, meaning that Infanta Elena was no longer considered a working member of the family. 

However, she still occasionally carries out engagements on behalf of the Monarchy; in particular, the event she will attend next Tuesday has always been in her calendar. Indeed, it was precisely this meeting that constituted her last engagement to date. 

On the 29th of June, she will welcome to El Pardo Royal Palace in Madrid the participants in the 30th edition of the Children and Youth Painting contest for school centres. The prize is awarded by the National Patrimony, the public organisation responsible for the management of the State’s possessions proceeding from the Crown. 

With Infanta Elena no longer being a working member of the Royal Family, she doesn’t receive any money from the Monarchy’s funds either. She has been preparing her whole life for this event, and since 2008 she works at the MAPFRE Foundation, where she is the Director of the Social Action area, one of five areas in which the foundation works. 

Contrary to her younger sister, Infanta Cristina, Infanta Elena still retains all her titles and honours, despite no longer being a working member of the family. Infanta Cristina lost her privileges and her title when she was implicated in the Noos Foundation scandal, for which her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, has been serving a 5 years and 7 months sentence since 2018.