The Queen was dealt an extraordinary and calculated snub last night that threatens to tarnish her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Just two days before Her Majesty was due to welcome the crowned heads of Europe’s royal houses to an elaborate Windsor Castle lunch, Spain’s Queen Sofia dramatically pulled out of the event.
A spokesman for the Spanish royals snootily declared that Sofia’s presence would be ‘inappropriate in the current circumstances.’
The 11th-hour cancellation, engineered by the Spanish government, came just a week after it made a formal protest to Britain over Prince Edward’s visit to Gibraltar.
The Prince and the Countess of Wessex are due to make a three-day visit to the fiercely British rock on June 13 as part of a Commonwealth-wide effort to mark the Jubilee with royal events.
Last night the decision was still being digested, but royal insiders say the Queen will be dismayed that what should have been a joyful celebration for her royal kinsmen and women has been hijacked by political machinations.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said ‘No Comment’ on Wednesday night, neither Buckingham Palace nor the British Foreign Office will make any comment.
There is also discord between the two governments over the Gibraltar authorities’ impeding the Spanish fishing fleet based at Cádiz from entering the waters that surround The Rock.
Furthermore, Spain was also not amused to find that the official band of Gibraltar is to perform as part of the Jubilee program!
But this time it seems somehow more personal.
Like the Queen, Queen Sofia is a direct descendant of Queen Victoria — she is a great-great-great-granddaughter - and the two are cousins.
Her brother is the exiled King Constantine of Greece, who lives in London and is close to Prince Philip and the Prince of Wales.
The decision is going to strain family relations.
Queen Sofia was due to attend tomorrow’s lunch alone because her husband Juan Carlos is recovering from a fall following a controversial safari.
The lunch for sovereign monarchs - plus the Emperor of Japan - is the biggest royal event since the funeral of the Queen Mother in 2002 and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.
The Spanish Royal House will be the only monarchy completely absent from the Jubilee celebrations.
The Zarzuela palace in Madrid sent out SMS text messages to give the news, indicating that the Government had considered the visit ‘hardly adequate in the current circumstances’ for Doña Sofía to attend the celebrations.
However, a week ago the Foreign Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, said that the visit of Doña Sofía to London was of a ‘private’ character, and therefore there was no reason to stop her attendance, despite the formal protest by the Foreign Ministry over Gibraltar on Thursday last week.
Now that has changed, with the latest incidents involving Spanish fishermen, and the new revelation that the Gibraltar Military Band would be playing at the Queen’s party in London.
Will Spain now boycott the Olympics?
UPDATE 18-05-12
An article in TheTelegraph by Tom Chivers says....
Queen Sofia of Spain, apparently, has decided not to attend a big lunch for the world's surviving monarchs at Windsor Castle tomorrow, held in celebration of the Queen's Jubilee, in what appears to be a pathetic childish tantrum over Gibraltar. Apparently the fact that the Earl and Countess of Wessex plan to visit the flyspeck peninsula on Spain's south-west corner has so upset the Spanish government that it would be "inappropriate in the current circumstances" for Queen Sofia to join the various other bejewelled toffs for lunch.
He adds: If the people of Gibraltar wanted to be a part of Spain, then they should be entitled to it, as is their democratic right, but, 10 years ago they were asked in a referendum whether they wanted Britain and Spain to share sovereignty, and they rejected it by a slender margin of 99 to 1.
Why should it matter if some minor members of our Royal family wander over there as part of the Jubilee celebrations?
Gibraltans like being a British Overseas Territory. If they want to have a posh man come and wave at them, they are allowed to.
Going around pretending your country has some divine right to ownership of some other bit of the world is just stupid.
It was private visit.
Questioned about the Spanish veto of Queen Sofia's attendance at Diamond Jubilee lunch, an FCO spokesperson said: “It was a private commitment. We do not comment on private visits.”
