As every year, the King and his daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía, on one side, and the former King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, on the other, have sent out Christmas greetings. This time, Felipe, Letizia, and their daughters chose a photo of the four of them taken at the Royal Palace on June 19, the day the 10th anniversary of Felipe VI's proclamation was commemorated. The novelty this year is that upon opening the greeting card, a fragment of a poem by the Valencian poet Francisco Brines appears on the left side, as a tribute to the deceased and their families, as well as to the over eight hundred thousand people affected by the floods on October 29th.
The Kings Juan Carlos and Sofia, who continue to sign another institutional greeting together as members of the royal family, have chosen to reproduce the Altarpiece of the Main Chapel of Toledo Cathedral.
Image illustrating the joint congratulations of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía
The Zarzuela has made public the official Christmas cards on Monday, while King Juan Carlos, residing in Abu Dhabi, has started sending another personal greeting to his friends, in which he is surrounded by the crew of the Bribón, after winning the European championship in the regattas of Sanxenxo.
The greeting signed by the King, Princess Leonor, and Infanta Sofia opens with a picture of the four taken at the Royal Palace, and not published until now, after presiding over the solemn changing of the Royal Guard that marked the start on June 19 of this year of the commemorative activities for the 10th anniversary of Felipe VI's proclamation.
The greeting from the King and his daughters includes a fragment of a poem by Francisco Brines, in tribute to the victims of the floods.
Upon opening the greeting card, on the left side appears the following excerpt from the poem by Francisco Brines, a Valencian poet and Cervantes Prize winner, as a tribute to the deceased and their families, and to the more than eight hundred thousand people affected by the floods of October 29th.
And I seek a face that reflects light/ someone who, like me, having only death/ also has, as I once did/ in overcoming it, life. “A trace of happiness”
The Valencian poet Francisco Brines, one of the members of the 50s generation, received the Cervantes Prize in 2021 at Elca, his home in Oliva, from the hands of the King and Queen, eight days before his passing. It was one of the few occasions on which the Cervantes Prize has been awarded outside the auditorium of the University of Alcalá de Henares (Madrid).
The Kings and their daughters sign the greeting
On the right side of the inside of the Christmas card signed by the Kings, the text reads: “Happy Christmas; together we will confidently embark on the new year 2025” and “Merry Christmas and may we all face the New Year with greater confidence”, along with the signatures of the four.
Close the greeting with the chosen image and motto to commemorate the 10th Anniversary (“Service, commitment, and duty”), which is being used in all communications from the Royal House until June 19, 2025.
The Christmas greeting from King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of the year 2024 features the “Altarpiece of the Main Chapel” of Toledo Cathedral, and they sign it jointly.
The kings Juan Carlos and Sofia sign the institutional congratulation together
Since King Felipe's proclamation in 2014, the Zarzuela has publicly released two greetings each year. The greeting featuring the King, Queen, and their daughters has always included a photo of the four of them or just the two sisters. On the other hand, the greeting for the emeritus king and queen, from 2014 to 2017, featured a Christmas-themed painting. In 2018, a photo of Juan Carlos and Sofía taken on the King's mother's 80th birthday was chosen, and in 2019, a picture of the couple taken in Sanxenxo (A Coruña) the previous summer was used. For the 2020 Christmas season, the first since King Juan Carlos left Spain in August 2020, a religious image depicting a Christmas altarpiece was selected, and in 2021, the aforementioned reproduction of the Neapolitan Nativity scene was chosen, a tradition that has been followed to date.