King Felipe and Queen Letizia have attended their traditional post-Christmas engagement: the Pascua Militar ceremony, celebrated in Madrid to mark the beginning of a new military year.
At 12:03pm local time on Friday, 6th January, Their Majesties arrived at the gates that surround Plaza de la Armería in front of the Royal Palace. Wearing his Air Force uniform and a red gown respectively, the King and Queen were welcomed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Once they entered the gates, they received the salute of the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Interior, as well as the Admiral and the Chief of the Military Quarters in His Majesty’s Household.
King Felipe and Queen Letizia then stood on their platform, from where His Majesty received military honours, listened to the national anthem being played, and observed a 21 gun salute being fired.
The monarch then performed a military review, accompanied by the Chief of the Armed Forces, the Chief of the Military Quarters of the Royal Household and the Colonel Chief of the Royal Guard.
It was then time for the royal party and guests to head back inside the Palace for a three-part reception; the first part was held in the Ambassadors’ Hallway with members of the National Council and military headquarters.
The second reception was held in the Throne Room, where King Felipe and Queen Letizia greeted unit chiefs that work in the military quarters of the House of His Majesty the King.
The final, and most solemn part of the day was the awarding of honours and the accompanying speeches. After a brief stay in the adjacent Gasperini Room to allow other delegations that had been waiting to approach the designated site, Their Majesties returned in the Throne Room.
There, The King awarded honours to 20 military personnel who undertook their duties with distinctions. Then, the Minister of Defense gave a speech highlighting the accomplishments of the Spanish military in 2022 and laying out plans for 2023.
King Felipe then delivered a speech, focusing on the war that the Russian Federation has provoked in Ukraine, and the cooperation displayed by NATO, of which Spain celebrated in 2022 the anniversary of being a member and hosted a summit.
His Majesty said: “This war, far from undermining our unity or creating cracks between all those who defend international law, freedom, peace, democratic values and an international order based on rules – what it achieved was to reinforce our cohesion and present a common front to the invasion of Ukraine”.
Following the traditional three cheers for the King initiated by the Chief of the Armed Forces, the act concluded with a summary of everything achieved by the military being presented to the monarch by the Chief of the Military Quarters.
Pascua Militar is normally the first engagement of the year for King Felipe and Queen Letizia, although this year it was different, since the Sovereign traveled to Brazil on the 1st of January to attend the inauguration of President Luis Ignacio Lula de Silva.
The ceremony’s origins can be traced back to 1782, when, on the 6th of January, under the reign of King Carlos III, the Spanish military retook Mahón, on the island of Menorca. To celebrate the achievement, King Carlos III ordered that, on Epiphany day, viceroys, captain generals, governors and military commanders “gather troops and notify in his name chiefs and officers of the armed forces his congratulations”, according to the Royal Household’s website.
