Queen Letizia was one of the many guests of honour at the Caixa Forum in Madrid for the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of UNICEF.
Founded on 9 December 1946, UNICEF was created shortly after the end of World War II to protect children and adolescents and try to give uniformity to their rights.
Queen Letizia has been Honorary President of UNICEF Spain since 2014 when she took the role from Queen Sofía. In this capacity, she was welcomed at the forum by many authorities, from Spanish political figures to presidents and members of both UNICEF and the Caixa Foundation, which has a program that focuses on childhood.
The event began with the projection of a video about Audrey Hepburn and her role as Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF, which showed images of her missions, her meetings and her speeches on behalf of the UN agency.
During the ceremony, Her Majesty gave a short speech, highlighting the successes of UNICEF during its 75 years of history, but also the unspeakable toll that the pandemic has taken on children and teenagers. Her Majesty said: “All the success achieved has reverted back, because of the pandemic, in all of the important indicators for childhood.”
She shortly spoke about the inhumane condition faced by children in a number that is “little bearable to listen to”; children who don’t have food, access to sanitary facilities, who are being “exploited for work or sexually, or both.”
But Queen Letizia closed her speech with a positive note. After stressing the importance of constantly asking ourselves: “In what kind of society do we want to live?” she thanked UNICEF Spain for “being a part of the solution”, which, in her words, “has to do with everyone’s will. The will of societies like ours which have the means to change this reality.”
Following the Queen’s speech, she sat down in the audience to listen to a roundtable titled “The indispensable alliances to defend and promote Childhood Rights in the post-COVID-19 era.”
Following the conclusion of the roundtable, Her Majesty held an informal meeting with authorities attending the event, before leaving to return to the Royal Palace. She was expected to take part in the lunch offered by King Felipe for the President of Cyprus, but at the last minute the President’s wife had to pull out of the event, which meant that Queen Letizia did not attend either.
