On arrival the Earl and Countess were greeted by Governor Sir Adrian Jones and Chief
Minister Picardo at the airport.
Sir Adrian in his Naval uniform saluted them as they stepped out of the plane.
Mr Picardo, having met with the couple last week at the Diamond Jubilee weekend celebrations in London, shook his hand and told the Earl it was good to see him again.
They were immediately driven to RAF Gibraltar where the Prince inspected a Tri-Service Guard of Honour from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, RAF and Navy.
Then the couple were driven to the Piazza where they were received with cheers of ‘God Save the Queen’, ‘welcome to a British Gibraltar’ and chants of ‘Edward, Edward’.
Pupils from all local schools had gathered in John Mackintosh Square amid great excitement especially when approached and spoken to by both the Earl and Countess who waved to everyone and shook hands. Both were interested in what the young pupils had to say. The Earl asked several times what their favourite subjects were and greeted the children with a smile and a big “hello”.
Emma and Matthew from Governor’s Meadow School could not help their own big smiles, “it’s so exciting to see a real Prince,” they cried.
As the Royal party sat under a canopy in the centre of the square in the bright June sunshine, the Gibraltar Academy of Dance presented a selection of dance pieces from their Diamond Jubilee show ‘An Audience with the Queen’. On a specially erected stage, the young dancers presented ‘Dressage’ with all ‘The Queen’s horses’, and a spectacular ‘red, white and blue’ moment celebrating the best of British. Later The Earl and Countess met and spoke to some of the young dancers and teacher Paulette Finlayson. They told the girls they had really enjoyed the show, keen to know what the girls would be doing next in their studies.
The walkabout was scheduled to end at 1pm at the Convent, but the Royal couple had just managed to enter Main Street at this time and would take another hour to reach their destination. There were people at every step of the way all wanting to meet the Earl and Countess. The couple were keen to meet as many Gibraltarians as possible as they walked up a very tightly packed Main Street, from the pavements at several junctures, four and five lines deep. Personal cameras were clicking with every second from every possible angle, as everyone wanted their moment captured forever.
From everywhere there were cheers and applause. Friendly and warm, the Royal couple did not seem to mind the attention and spoke to hundreds on the Main Street.
“Sophie, you are beautiful,” someone cried in the crowd.
“It is lovely being here,” the Countess replied to those standing near. From within the crowd came a call for the Earl, “this is your homeland Sir, come as often as you want.”
The Earl thanked him, smiled and shook his hand. “Welcome to Gibraltar,” cried another.
Prince Edward, with a smile that lasted the whole length of Main Street, simply replied again, “Thank you”.
There is no denying it was a tight squeeze for all as the party proceeded to The Convent and the press photographers certainly did not have an easy day.
The visit has sparked much interest especially from the Spanish media but there is also media here from the UK.
As the couple entered The Convent to prepare to undertake the many engagements on the Rock, The Royal Standard was raised, and will now fly until the couple leave tomorrow.
Today Their Royal Highnesses have another busy schedule and tonight will attend the Queen’s Birthday Parade in Casemates Square followed by the Queen’s Birthday Garden Party at The Convent.
The crowds enthusiastically waved their flags of red, blue and white and broke into the Gibraltar and British anthems as the royals arrived at the Convent.
The public lined the streets in greater numbers than when the royal visitor was Princess Anne.
In total, the pair spent over an hour chatting to shop owners and bunting-waving children, amid a sea of union flags.
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| The Earl and Countess of Wessex plant a tree at the Governor's residence |
During the three-day visit they are set to take in a wide variety of sites.
On arrival today they inspected a Tri-Service Guard of Honour at RAF Gibraltar before laying the foundation stone for the Diamond Jubilee Monument.
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| Prince Edward and Sophie lay the foundation stone for a Diamond Jubilee memorial |
The Earl is also scheduled to present Duke of Edinburgh Awards, visit Gib Dock and name a new boat and present regatta awards at the two rowing clubs. Meanwhile, the Countess’s busy program includes visits to the Girl Guides’ headquarters and to St Martin’s School.
On Tuesday they are set to visit the British Forces HQ, the Upper Rock and attend the Queen’s Birthday Parade, before finishing with a tour of the new airport terminal on Wednesday morning.
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| A plane painted with a tribute to the Queen flies over the Royal Navy's base on Gibraltar during a visit by Prince Edward and his wife Sophie to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee |
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| The Earl and Countess of Wessex unveil a memorial to Moroccan workers in Gibraltar, at Alameda Gardens |
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| The Earl of Wessex chats with Moroccan community members in Gibraltar |
Spain has two enclaves, Ceuta and Mellila, on the Moroccan coast across the Mediterranean, opposite Gibraltar.
They see nothing wrong with this historical arrangement and do not even think of returning them to Morocco.
To even question the issue is to ignore centuries of international law. Let alone the moral issue.
Spain always protests when any member of the British Royal Family visits Gibraltar and there was a similar outcry in March 2009 when Princess Anne visited the Rock.
The Gibraltar Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, has told Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones that, ‘In Gibraltar we feel attacked by Spain’.
Fabian Picardo told Spanish journalists that the current crisis had mobilised the Gibraltar public to support their royal visitors who stay until Wednesday.
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| ...The sound of a brass band playing Rule Britannia was clearly audible over the barbed wired border in La Linea, where a handful of Spaniards had turned out to watch the spectacle. Antonio Jimenez, draped in a Spanish flag, called it 'an act of provocation'. |
Comments from Spain
Today, Monday, the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation repeated the Government’s ‘disagreement and discomfort’ by the visit, already expressed to the British Ambassador, Giles Paxman, in Madrid.
“I said from the outset that this visit was deeply unfortunate,” reiterated Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo.
Algeciras mayor Jose Ignacio Landaluce, added: “The royal visit has sullied the atmosphere.
“This land is ours and it’s a tense situation. It is a most inopportune moment for them to come.”
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| Spain maintains it ceded Gibraltar only to the British in 1713, not the waters ... |
In recent weeks, an ongoing dispute over fishing rights in the waters surrounding the territory has led to stand-offs between Spanish Civil Guard vessels accompanying fishermen in the area and Gibraltar police patrols enforcing a ban.
Spain has retaliated by slowing traffic crossing the border causing tail-backs and delays of up to three hours.
When the Queen visited in May during the second year of her reign it caused such outrage on the Spanish side that Gen Francisco Franco blockaded the border isolating the territory for the next 18 years in punishment.
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As the Duke and Countess of Wessex toured the peninsula there was no doubt over where the loyalties of Gibraltarians lie.
"Gibraltar values its Britishness above all else," Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, who came to office for the Socialist Liberal Party in December, told the Daily Telegraph. "And in Her Majesty's Jubilee Year we are delighted to welcome the Earl and Countess of Wessex as her representatives to demonstrate our loyalty and affection for the British crown and as guarantors of our constitution and our Britishness."
The people of Gibraltar, he said, would not allow complaints from Spain to dampen their spirits.
Comments from Britain and Gibraltar
The odd thing is that the Moors occupied Gibraltar - its name is Arabic - longer than the Spaniards.
Thank you Wilson, also Gibraltar has been British longer than America has been American. We are proud to be British, thank you for your support.
Gibraltar is British and that is that..........To even question the issue is to ignore centuries of international law. Let alone the moral issue.
Anyone want to start a pool betting on how much longer Gibraltar will remain British?
I'd bet you anything it will remain British.
I'd say longer than Spain will be Spanish. There are so many potential breakaway regions in Spain nowadays.
The people of Gibraltar are British and wish to remain that way; they deserve to be visited by members of the Royal Family, just like any other UK territory.
The idiots that do care are the backwards thinking politicians.
Gibraltar provides much needed employment, tourism and an airport to the local area. Without it, the people of La Linea (who are suffering 45% unemployment thanks to their PP political party), would probably have a much higher rate.
On top of this, many thousands of people rent property in Spain thanks to the businesses in Gibraltar and once again, the property market would collapse without those people.
Once again, it's not the people who have an issue with this; It's the Spanish politicians.