Leonor’s big day arrives this October 31. With her coming of age and her oath of the Constitution, she fully consolidates the institutional role that she plays from now on as heir to the Crown. Many words and all of very high symbolism and relevance. It is side A of this celebration. A set illuminated by the cameras and the media, in which the heiress will be accompanied by her parents, Felipe VI and Letizia, and her sister. Together with them, the highest powers of the State. The B side of this event is the El Pardo party. A private, family and off-camera meeting. That is, the most. The Borbóns, with Juan Carlos I and Doña Sofía, and the Ortizs will attend.
The Princess of Asturias is going to gather her paternal and maternal family on the evening of Tuesday the 31st. The El Pardo Palace, which has been used since 1983 as the official residence of foreign heads of state visiting Spain, has been the chosen meeting point. The Zarzuela Palace was ruled out. Hosting Don Juan Carlos at the Zarzuela venue has been a hurdle and inconvenience since he self-expatriated to the United Arab Emirates in August 2020. The last time the emeritus set foot on Zarzuela soil was in May 2022 when his son read to him the primer in an eleven-hour meeting. For this reason, El Pardo was running as a preference.
The El Pardo party
A full-fledged Bourbon conclave, which represents the historical reunion of the Kings and their daughters with the emeritus, the infantas Elena and Cristina and their children. The last image we have of this summit It is from 2018, when Doña Sofía turned 80 years old.
Guests from the Queen’s family are Paloma Rocasolano and Jesús Ortiz (their respective partners, Marcus Brandler and Ana Togores, are also expected) and Telma, with Robert Gavin Bonnar, whom she already took to Leonor’s debut at the Princess of Asturias Awards in 2019. Of the heiress’s cousins, Froilán and the Urdangarin-Borbón. Also the Zuritas, Alfonso and María, and her mother, Margarita; and the Gómez-Acebo. Victoria Federica de Marichalar, who is in Peru with some friends, will be missing.
Built by Enrique IV in 1472, the El Pardo palace was originally a hunting lodge. A series of renovations gave it its current appearance. Inside, lamps and carpets from the Royal Factories, and a collection of tapestries on cardboard, among which those by Goya stand out. Coincidentally, these gardens and the central patio were the settings chosen for the official presentation and proposal for the marriage of the then Prince of Asturias and the journalist Letizia Ortiz, after the announcement of their engagement, which is now celebrating its 20th anniversary.