King Felipe and Queen Letizia along with Princess of Asturias Leonore and Infanta Sofia today attended the celebrations of National Day. A military parade was held at the Plaza de Lima to pay the homage to the fallen soldiers and national Flag. In the evening Felipe and Letizia offered the traditional memorial reception of the National Day at the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Also known as Hispanic Day, the national day is a public holiday in Spain, on which the king of Spain supervises the raising of the Spanish national flag in the centre of Madrid Plaza de Lima and then lead a military parade after that accompanying by Prime Minister.
The commemoration of the National Festival aims to solemnly recall moments of collective history that are part of the common historical, cultural and social heritage, assumed as such by the vast majority of citizens. According to Law 18/1987, dated October 7, which establishes the day of the National Day of Spain on October 12, symbolizes the historical event in which Spain, on the verge of concluding a process of construction of the State from of our cultural and political plurality, and the integration of the Kingdoms of Spain into a single Monarchy, begins a period of linguistic and cultural projection beyond European limits.
The Royal Family arrived escorted by the squadron of Royal Escort and was greeted by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The Royal guards presented the honours to the King. Then King Felipe reviewed the troops and greeted the members of the Government and Armed forces.
After a parachute jump carrying the Spanish flag, three royal guards, representatives of each of the Armies, a civil guard and national police transferred the flag, which was raised to the chords of the National Anthem. Then took place the tribute to those who gave their lives for Spain. The Music Unit of the Royal Guard was in charge of interpreting “The death is not the end”, to whose compasses were made the movements of scripts and portacoronas.
The military parade is performed by more than 4,000 soldiers and members of the State Security Forces and Corps, 114 vehicles, 52 motorcycles and 127 horses.
This year the air show, usually presented by the jets of Spanish air force, was suspended due to the bad weather.
After the parade, Royal family was escorted by the Royal Escort Squadron, to the Royal Palace of Madrid, where the traditional reception took place on the occasion of National Holiday Day.
In the Throne Room, Don Felipe and Doña Letizia received the Government members, senior foreign officials, presidents of Autonomous Communities, former Presidents of the Government, Diplomatic Corps, Political Groups and members of the armed forces.
The reception was in the Gala Dining Room and the Salons of Gasparini and Carlos III.
For the annual event, Queen Letizia trusted her head designer Felipe Varela once again. She wore a pearl grey tailored jacket with matching Chantilly lace dress.
The crêpe wool jacket features a lapel collar and metallic double button closure at the front with matching buttons on cuff.
Underneath the jacket, Letizia wore pearl grey sleeveless Chantilly skirt. The top of the dress is made from wool and features intricate embroidery on the front.
A closer look at the top.
The lace skirt of the dress features midi-length and intricate detailing on its pleats.
Letizia paired the outfit with matching pearl grey handbag and Mila pumps from her go-to label Magrit.
Her Chanel ‘Plume’ white gold diamond earrings finished the look.
