Queen Letizia and Queen Sofía of Spain have made a show of unity arriving together with King Felipe to visit King Juan Carlos in hospital after his knee surgery. This was their first public appearance together since the Easter mass video came to light earlier this week.
The royals arrived together at 6:00 pm with King Felipe driving their Mercedes C350. Queen Letizia sat in the passenger seat with Queen Sofía in the back. Letizia opened the door for her mother-in-law and walked with her to the door of the hospital. Felipe, Letizia and Sofía were all smiles and posed for the waiting photographers before heading in to check on Juan Carlos.
The family stayed with King Juan Carlos for an hour and a half with Felipe telling the media upon their departure that his father’s surgery went well, “I think that this afternoon [King Juan Carlos] is going to be able to walk a little bit, and I hope that he will leave the ICU tomorrow. He is fine, calm and satisfied because he will win a lot in quality of life and movement.”
Just yesterday sources at Zarzuela Palace said the Easter mass video, which showed a verbal altercation between Queens Letizia and Sofía leaving the service, had been blown out of proportion. The same sources stressed to Spain’s El País, after being asked if the two queens would make a joint appearance together, that “what happens will happen with all normality, nothing will be forced.”
King Juan Carlos, who has been walking with a cane, had surgery on his right knee today at the private Sanitas La Moraleja University Clinic this afternoon in Madrid. This was the 15th surgery he had undergone with the first being on his appendix when he was a child.
The hospital said the 90-minute surgery was successful saying it “has been developed with total normality and the result has been fully satisfactory.” A specialist in Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology oversaw the procedure.
His Majesty will remain in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for 24 hours as a precaution with the hospital saying it is for “postoperative control.”
