King Felipe and Queen Letizia met with German President Joachim Gauck and his partner Daniela Schadt.

Spain and Germany have close business and political ties. The two couples had lunch at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid.

 

 

King Felipe and Queen Letizia have held numerous public events in the weeks since launching their agenda for 2017.

King Felipe presided over a meeting of leaders of Spain’s autonomous communities, as seen above. The presidents of Catalonia and the Basque Country.

The King met with the Archbishop of Madrid at Zarzuela Palace. Pope Francis recently announced that Carlos Osoro Sierra would be a cardinal.

The King also received several ambassador credentials at the Royal Palace in Madrid.

Queen Letizia, among the events she has led, handed out the latest Premio Tomás Francisco Prieto Awards.

King Felipe made an official visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this month to secure bilateral political and economic relations.

Don Felipe met with King Salman and numerous other Saudi leaders during his roughly two days in the country.

King Felipe’s father, King Juan Carlos, made deep inroads in the Arab world to secure contracts for Spanish businesses.

Some critics, particularly on the left, criticized Don Felipe’s visit to the totalitarian regime.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia launched their agenda for the new year with the deeply traditional “Pascua Militar” events at the Royal Palace in Madrid.

During the ceremonies, the King meets with service members and addresses military leaders at the throne room.

Toward the end of the deeply traditional event, the crowd cheers for Spain and the King.

Since last week, the King and Queen have met with several groups and associations at Zarzuela Palace.

Today the King traveled to Portugal for the funeral of former President Mário Alberto Lopes Soares.

King Felipe dedicated his annual Christmas message to urging Spaniards to be more positive and resolute, and to work together toward a more prosperous future.

The King recognized country’s economic crisis and political difficulties, but also pleaded with Spaniards to focus on the nation’s growth and unity.

Don Felipe’s words were relatively forceful. “Intolerance and exclusion, the negation of the other or disrespect for another’s opinion, don’t fit in today’s Spain,” he said.

Like previous years, the King also alluded — albeit indirectly — to nationalist movements in Catalonia and the Basque Country.

“Breaking the norms that guarantee our democracy and liberty only leads to tensions and sterile clashes that don’t resolve anything, and to the moral and material worsening of the society,” he said.

Mainstream parties welcomed the King’s message. Populist party Podemos accused the monarch of not listening to his people.

Many Spaniards tend to be pessimistic about their country, even amid the recovery. Nationalist movements have also flared, particularly since the empire’s fall.

King Felipe — caretaker of the country’s unity, according to the constitution — has been using his bully pulpit to reverse those social trends.

The Spanish Royal Household has released samples of the King and Queen’s holiday card.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia’s card includes a family picture with their daughters — Leonor, the Princess of Asturias, and Infanta Sofia.

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, as previous years, featured a work of art.

Their card included a picture of a centuries-old religious sculpture at a Spanish monastery.

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia made a joint appearance last week at the Madrid Royal Palace.

King Felipe’s parents opened a new exhibit of royal collections there, part of Patrimonio Nacional’s effort to put more artifacts on display at the palace.

Gossip has long surrounded King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, but the two have attended several events together in recent months.

Members of the Spanish Royal Family have packed their agenda ahead of the upcoming holidays.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia visited Valencia last week to hand out the Rey Jaime I awards, which focus on research and discovery.

The King and Queen also visited the eastern Spanish city’s main marketplace, and spoke with vendors and visitors.

On Friday, Queen Sofia was at the Royal Palace in Madrid handing out awards in Ibero-American poetry.

She then visited Mallorca to help mark the 700th anniversary of the death of Ramón Llull, a Catalan writer and philosopher.

King Juan Carlos was also on the agenda in recent weeks. He was at Bank of Spain headquarters giving out an award on the economy named after him.

On the agenda in the coming days are a swearing-in and an official trip to Portugal.

King Felipe called for a “new era of prosperity” during the opening of the Cortes Generales this week.

The King attended the solemn ceremony with Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia.

Protocol for the occasion includes opening the Door of the Lions and a brief military parade.

The King said, “Our recent history has not been free of difficulties. We have overcome them and will continue to overcome. I am convinced that the Spanish people has a profound desire to open a new era of prosperity centered on coexistence and understanding.”