The photo that wanted to be avoided: Felipe VI, Letizia and the Emeritus, together at the funeral of Isabel II

In the end, by protocol, Don Felipe and Doña Letizia have taken their seats next to the Emeritus Kings, Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía. There is no truth to the idea that the heads of state went on one side and the former heads of state on the other. The image of the four Kings of Spain together has not been repeated since January 2020, when they attended the funeral of the Infanta Doña Pilar, sister of Don Juan Carlos. The funeral for Isabel II has made Felipe and Letizia appear in the photo together with the emeritus in the place reserved for the royal houses that have moved to London.

They have been placed in the second row, behind Margaret of Denmark and her son Federico; Carlos Gustavo and Silvia from Sweden and Guillermo and Máxima from the Netherlands, who also share a row with Princess Beatriz. Doña Letizia leads the second row, followed by Felipe VI, Doña Letizia and Don Juan Carlos, who wears the Golden Fleece, Spain’s highest decoration. The head of state has worn the gala uniform of the Navy.

So far there had been no meeting in a place with cameras. On Sunday, Don Felipe, Doña Letizia and Doña Sofía arrived in London on a Spanish Air Force plane while Don Juan Carlos landed in the British capital on a direct flight from Abu Dhabi. The Emeritus met with his wife in a hotel, while Don Felipe and Doña Letizia, at the Spanish Embassy, ​​where they are staying these days for logistical reasons.

Felipe and Letizia went to Westminster Hall to pay tribute to Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, her Chief of Protocol and the Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Hours later they went to Buckingham Palace for the reception offered by Carlos III to several hundred leaders, but they went on a different bus from the one that drove the emeritus, so an image of the four Kings together could not be captured.