The year now drawing to a close has brought many memorable royal moments. Amidst the history and ceremony, there was also a sense of a return to business as usual as the pandemic changed once more.
State Visit Central
State Visits began again in earnest in 2022 with many royals across Europe again hosting these important events to boost diplomatic and economic ties between their countries and others. However, they can also be a meeting with friends and family. In October 2022, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands made a State Visit to Sweden and were greeted by most of the Swedish royal family. Princess Estelle, goddaughter of the Dutch king, took centre stage in the first official photo.
Please look after all these bears
His chat with Queen Elizabeth II became so legendary that when she died, Paddington helped the world mourn her. Hundreds of little bears were left among the millions of flowers laid in memory of Her Late Majesty in the Royal Parks in London in the days following her death. They were all saved and tidied up before being taken to Barnardos by Queen Camilla so that they could start looking after new friends, the children supported by the charity. Camilla welcomed them into Clarence House and Buckingham Palace beforehand and, for the second time in months, Paddington won over a queen.
A Princess takes the lead
Just days before she turned seventeen, Princess Leonor took the lead at one of Spain’s biggest celebrations of arts, science and culture. The Princess of Asturias awards recognise achievement in a wide range of areas and it was the teenage heir to the throne who handed them out and gave the keynote address at the ceremony in Oviedo. The year 2022 saw Leonor take an ever more important part in Spain’s royal activity – still completing her education, she has become a princess to be reckoned with and she’s not yet eighteen.