The King will travel to Kuwait this Monday to offer his condolences on the death of Emir Nawaf al Ahmad al Sabah. Felipe VI will make a round trip on the same day in order to attend the official condolence ceremony that will take place at the royal palace in Kuwait City. The emir, as required by Muslim tradition, was buried this Sunday less than 24 hours after his death last Saturday.
Due to this trip, the King will not attend the delivery of offices to the new prosecutors this Monday, as planned in his agenda.
The King, following the strict funeral protocol of the Arab countries, represents Spain in the condolence ceremonies in which relatives receive high-ranking Kuwaiti dignitaries, as well as foreign delegations in an immense hall through which everyone passes. The King has been present at similar ceremonies held in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed al Nahyan. died 2022; Oman, due to the death of Qabus Bin Said in 2020, or Saudi Arabia, due to the death of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2015.
The King will convey, on behalf of Spain, condolences for the deceased sheikh and will hold a meeting with the new emir of Kuwait, Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. Accompanying Felipe VI are the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, Luis Cuesta; the Head of the King’s Household, Jaime Alfonsín; the diplomatic advisor, Alfonso Sanz Portolés and there, the ambassador of Spain in Kuwait, Miguel Moro Aguilar
The 86-year-old emir of Kuwait died this Saturday after spending a month in a hospital in the Kuwaiti capital. His term lasted barely three years after succeeding his half-brother Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who died at the age of 91, after being admitted to a hospital in the United States for several months, in September 2020.
Minister Mohamed Abdullah al Mubarak Al Sabah announced the death of the until now emir through official television: “With great sadness and regret, we mourn the Kuwaiti people, the Arab and Islamic nations and the friendly peoples of the world, for the late Su “His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf al Ahmad al Jaber al Sabah, who passed away before his Lord today, Saturday.” Although the reason for the death was not made public, due to the information opacity typical of the Gulf countries, it was announced that the emir was admitted a month ago to a medical center for “an urgent health problem” of which They didn’t know the details.
Sheikh Nawaf assumed power as emir in September 2020, but at the end of the following year he delegated “some of his constitutional powers” to the crown prince, Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, 83, who will be his successor. as emir of the small Gulf country, according to the Constitution. The new president is the brother of the deceased’s father.
The new emir, 83 years old and the seventeenth in the history of the small Gulf country, must be sworn in before Parliament and, according to Kuwaiti law, has a period of one year to elect his crown prince.
Sheikh Meshal, considered the de facto leader in the small oil-rich Gulf country after the emir delegated some of his constitutional powers to him in 2021, spent most of his career in the nation’s Security and Intelligence apparatus. .
During his short period in office, Emir Nawaf made several visits to Western countries for medical reasons, mainly to Italy, amid rumors about his deteriorating state of health and his inability to continue leading the oil-rich country.
