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Leonor, Princess of Asturias, is in the foreground with the Infanta Sofia behind. sur
This is the Christmas card the Spanish royal family are sending out this year

This is the Christmas card the Spanish royal family are sending out this year

King Felipe and Queen Letizia decided to feature their daughters Leonor and Sofía in this year's photo and, inside the card, the festive greeting is in Spanish and English

S. Rodríguez

MADRID.

Friday, 23 December 2022, 11:45

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La Zarzuela Palace has issued details of this year's Christmas card which is being sent by the Spanish royal family, but anyone hoping to receive a photo of the King and Queen will have to wait for another year. The couple decided that their festive greeting should feature their daughters Leonor and Sofia, and the photo on the card shows the informally dressed princesses with their arms entwined in an autumnal landscape.

The photo was taken at the end of October, when Leonor, the Princess of Asturias and heir to the throne, came home for a week during a break in her studies at a school in Wales.

Inside the card, the message ‘Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año 2023’ (also printed in English) is followed by a handwritten greeting from the King and signed by all four members of the royal family.

The greeting, in Spanish and English, inside the card
The greeting, in Spanish and English, inside the card SUR

Since King Felipe came to the throne in 2014 after the abdication of his father, he and Queen Letizia have alternated the photos on their official Christmas card so that in some years all four members of the family are featured and in others it is just the two princesses.

Card from the former King and Queen

La Zarzuela has also sent out a Christmas card from the former king and queen, Juan Carlos and Sofía. Since the abdication they have rarely been seen together – the King Emeritus took up residence in Abu Dhabi in August 2020 – but they still maintain the tradition of sending an official card.

This year’s picture shows a painting of the Nativity which hangs in the palace at El Escorial, and the message is a brief ‘Feliz Navidad y Próspero año’ to which the year 2023 has been added by hand.

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