The last time they were seen, both were dressed in white when they met at the Vatican a year ago, at the mass marking the beginning of the pontificate of Leo XIV. This Monday, Queen Letizia chose white again for her meeting with Princess Charlene, who opted for a sky blue so light that from afar it also looked white. Both, accompanied by the King and Prince Albert of Monaco, strolled through the Botanical Garden of Madrid to inaugurate a commemorative exhibition of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Spain and Monaco.
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In their elegance duel, Queen Letizia brought out from her wardrobe a white model by the Italian brand Mantú, which she debuted last summer in Mallorca, while Charlene chose a sky blue lace dress by the brand Óscar de la Renta.
This noon, the King held a meeting and subsequent lunch with Albert of Monaco at the Zarzuela, which neither Queen Letizia nor Princess Charlene attended. Although it is the first time that Prince Albert’s wife visits Spain, at least as a princess, it is not the first time she has met Queen Letizia. They met in London at the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II and later at the coronation ceremonies of Charles III. Both the Kings and the Princes of Monaco also attended, at the Vatican, the funeral for Pope Francis and the coronation mass of Leo XVI. The current Pontiff also connects them now, as just days before Leo XIV’s visit to Spain, they were able to recall the papal visit to Monaco that took place last March 28.
The visit of the Princes of Monaco takes place on the occasion of the exhibition Monaco and Spain, five centuries of shared history at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid and is part of the celebration of the 150 years since the establishment of the principality’s first diplomatic mission in Spain. The five hundred years refer to the visit that Charles of Austria, on his way to be crowned in Bologna as Charles V, made in 1529 to the Principality which was then a Spanish protectorate.
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If it is Charlene’s first visit, it is not so for Albert, whose godmother was Queen Victoria Eugenia (great-grandmother of Felipe VI). As a young boy, due to his connection to the Monaco football team, he made a first visit almost forty years ago to follow the match played against F.C. Barcelona. Afterwards, Albert of Monaco has visited Spain on multiple occasions, the last in May 2024 when he traveled to Cantabria for a rock art center dedicated to his great-great-grandfather, Albert I, a great patron of excavations and paleontological studies. He attended the weddings of the infantas Elena and Cristina, while at Felipe and Letizia’s wedding he was represented by his sister Carolina. As a member of the International Olympic Committee, Albert attended all events related to the celebration of the Barcelona-92 games and was also responsible for putting a damper on Madrid’s successive bids to host the Olympics. In 2005, when the possibility of the Spanish capital hosting the 2012 Olympic Games was debated, Albert asked a direct and challenging question about security and terrorism in Spain and, in 2013, regarding the possibility of Madrid organizing the 2020 games, he questioned project details and security.
After lunch at the Zarzuela and before attending, together with Charlene, the appointment at the Botanical Garden, Prince Albert was received at the Zarzuela by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. After the meeting, Sánchez highlighted that the relationship between Monaco and Spain is based on the “bond built on shared history, European values, and a firm commitment to multilateral cooperation in areas such as ocean protection that will continue to grow.”
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