New reunion of the Royal Family with the members of the Spanish national team. Just a few hours after landing in Madrid from New York, the King and Queen and their daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía, have received at their home, the Zarzuela Palace, the members of La Roja.
With a half-hour delay from the scheduled time, the 21 members of the team along with the technical staff have arrived at El Pardo on the bus with which they will later tour the streets of Madrid. After landing before two in the afternoon at Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas airport, the two-time world champions rested for a few hours at a hotel in Plaza de España, from where they left after five towards the headquarters of the Head of State.
Given the historic celebration, more than a hundred members of Zarzuela positioned themselves at the entrance of the building to receive the national team with an honor guard. Members of the Royal Guard stationed at El Pardo, administrative staff, and part of the Royal Household team all applauded emotionally as the players entered by bus.
The Royal Family received the team in the audience hall, where they shook hands with each player, who were wearing suits. Leonor and Sofía wore the National Team jersey again. After the greeting, they went out to the back garden of the main building, where they took the corresponding family photo with the World Cup and the King addressed a few words to them.
“You come tired but what a nice kind of tired, right?”, began Don Felipe, who gave them his “heartfelt congratulations.” Felipe VI described the journey to victory as an “odyssey,” “not only in the final stretch, it was an epic triumph: you suffered, you return somewhat bruised, you have faced some criticism… but, what is all that compared to the joy of bringing the Cup home?” concluded the Monarch.
Felipe VI praised the team’s attitude: “Arming yourselves with patience without despairing, you have been united, a team, supportive, generous and you have also won with gallantry,” he concluded. “You carry forever those two stars that shine so brightly, but you are a stellar and legendary team.
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“Spain is once again, thanks to you, football world champion. When you won, you did it for all of Spain, it was a privilege and a joy for the four of us to see you play the final and enjoy the privilege with you of lifting the Cup and welcoming you to Spain. You still have much celebration ahead despite the tiredness, but you will enjoy it. You have earned it, congratulations.”
It had been 16 years since this image was last seen. In 2010, when the Princess and the Infanta were barely 4 and 3 years old, the reception took place in the Columns Hall of the Royal Palace. This time, it was decided to replicate the reception held two years ago on the occasion of the Euro Cup, when the event took place in the gardens of Zarzuela.
The four, together
This is the first time that four members of the Royal Family attend the World Cup final together. Since his reign began, Don Felipe has attended eight matches of the Spanish men’s national football team, one of them the Spain-England match in July 2024, when he was accompanied by Infanta Sofía.
Both the Queen and the Princess of Asturias attended a Spanish men’s national team match for the first time yesterday although, in 2010, Doña Letizia together with Don Felipe, as Princes of Asturias, traveled to South Africa to attend the final in which Spain won the World Cup.
On the other hand, Doña Letizia and Infanta Sofía represented the Royal Family at the Spain-England match won by the Spanish women’s national team in Sydney (August 20, 2023). Additionally, Leonor and Sofía have attended two matches of the Spanish women’s national team together.
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