In Portugal for a three-day official visit, the King and Queen of Spain, Filipe VI and Letizia Ortiz, started with a whistle-stop viewing of the exceptional Miró collection, on permanent exhibition these days in Porto’s Casa de Serralves.
Once threatened by the scourge of austerity – the last government was actually considering selling it off at auction for an effective €50,000 loss – the collection’s ‘reprieve’ was signed by the PS government to the relief of art aficionados throughout Portugal.
A number of ministers, both Portuguese and Spanish, took part in this first leg of the royal visit which is continuing on to Guimarães and Lisbon, where Felipe is due to address parliament on Wednesday.
This (Monday) evening, the Spanish monarchs will be the guests of President Marcelo at a special dinner at the Palace of the Dukes of Bragança.
Tuesday will see them visiting Porto’s park of science and technology and meeting “Portuguese and Spanish businessmen”.
This latest visit is thought to be yet another occasion for Spain and Portugal to ‘deepen ties’. King Felipe has already been talking about the importance of the Tejo river – a “treasure” which unites both countries, and which plays “a key role in growing trans-frontier cooperation”.
