Two goals with one photo. Yesterday, King Juan Carlos sent two messages from Abu Dhabi: one to verify the presence, with him, of his daughter, Infanta Elena, and his grandson, Felip de Marichalar (better known as Froilán) , and the other to reaffirm the decision to reside in Abu Dhabi, and show, this time, support for the emirate’s initiatives. Father, daughter and grandson were photographed in the new Abrahamic Houses complex, a project that unites architecture and interreligious dialogue.
The digital medium 65YMAS. com, dedicated to the senior world and founded by the journalist Fernando Ónega (with a good relationship with King Juan Carlos), published yesterday some photographs in which the father of the King was seen with his daughter and grandson before or after attending at the Easter Sunday mass in the Catholic church, which, together with a synagogue and a mosque, form the Abrahamic Houses. The complex, just inaugurated and designed by architect David Adjaye, is located on Sadiyat Island, the new cultural district, next to Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi, and the future, already under construction, Guggenheim by Frank Ghery, and the Norman Foster National Museum. The whole thing is an initiative of Mohammed bin Zaied al-Nahian, Sheikh of Abu Dhabi, and is promoted by Mohammed al-Mubarak, the host of King Juan Carlos in Abu Dhabi.
Infanta Elena, who was already in Abu Dhabi in January to help her son Felip settle in the emirate, returned last week to be present at the mass offered by King Juan Carlos April 1 in memory of his father, Joan de Borbó, who died just 30 years ago. As it coincided with the beginning of Holy Week, Elena de Borbó extended her stay in the emirate. The son of the infanta Elena and Jaime de Marichalar has been living in the emirate since January, where he started working to have a life away from the media spotlight and the controversies that have accompanied him in recent months. He works for the state oil company Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and lives in an apartment provided by the company. After celebrating Easter yesterday, with mass included, Elena de Borbó planned to return to Spain.
While King Juan Carlos was in the company of his daughter and grandson, Queen Sofia, settled in Marivent with her sister, Irene of Greece, received a visit from her son, the King, at the weekend who spent three days with his mother. He then returned to Madrid to receive Princess Eleonor, who began a ten-day holiday on Thursday. Without news of Queen LetÃcia’s activity these days, the Kings, Princess Eleonor and Infanta Sofia appeared on Saturday night in the Madrid town of Chinchón, where they shared with the neighbors the celebration of the Passion alive
With this activity, private but in public, the Kings have put a new spin on the Easter holidays, they have offered a religious alternative to the absence of the Resurrection Mass in the Cathedral of Palma and, at the same time, have disassociated from Marivent. The Majorcan residence was for decades the place where the royal family met during Easter and in the summer around the kings Joan Carlos and Sofia. Over the years and with the reference, now, of Felip and LetÃcia, the scenarios have multiplied.
