ARCHIVED - King Felipe maintains he is not responsbile for the actions of his sisters following their vaccination in Abu Dhabi
Elena and Cristina explained that they intend to visit their exiled father in the UAE on a regular basis
There has been considerable comment in Spain recently on the news that the sisters of King Felipe VI have both received coronavirus vaccines despite not falling into any of the priority groups specified by the Ministry of Health, and in response Princess Elena issued a statement on Wednesday explaining that she and Princess Cristina had done so in order to be able to visit their father in Abu Dhabi more often in the future.
Criticism has been levelled at the two princesses for having “jumped the queue”, with some even suggesting that they only visited the Middle East in order to receive the vaccine – they were given their jabs in Abu Dhabi, not in Spain - but Elena explains that they were simply offered the chance to receive the vaccine and chose to do so. She also adds that she and Cristina intend to visit their exiled father, formerly King Juan Carlos I, on a regular basis, and they hope that their vaccinations will act as a “health passport”.
However, the UAE currently require neither a health passport nor vaccination for those visiting the country, a recent negative PCR test result being sufficient to gain entry.
The princesses’ week-long trip to Abu Dhabi was in early February, following Juan Carlos’ decision to move to the Middle East on 3rd August last year in the midst of increasing accusations that he had knowingly committed various financial and fiscal irregularities. Since then there have been various reports that he is in poor health, although these have not been officially confirmed.
Felipe VI, meanwhile, has offered no comment, although the Royal Household has stated that the King “is not responsible for the actions of his sisters” and it can be assumed that their decision to receive immunization is not in line with the Monarch’s intention to ensure that exemplary behaviour on the part of his family is a characteristic of his reign.
King Felipe maintains that himself and his family will be vaccinated when it is their turn to do so and has received a certain amount of sympathetic coverage in certain areas of the media; following the recent disclosures about his father's financial affairs and now this situation with his sisters, comments along the lines of "you can choose your friends, but you can´t choose your family" have been visible this week!
Unsurprisingly, various politicians have been far more explicit in the condemnation of the princesses’ actions. Pablo Iglesias, one of the vice-presidents of the national government, describes the episode as unacceptable, while Miguel Ángel Revilla, president of the regional government in Cantabria, uses the word “unpresentable”.
Image: The King and Queen at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de la Fundación Helga de Alvear in Cáceres last week @CasaReal