PALMA
FIVE hundred extra police have been drafted in to Majorca to protect the Spanish royal family during their annual summer holiday on the island.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia landed at Son San Joan airforce base in Palma yesterday evening at the start of their annual summer holiday at Marivent Palace.
Crown Prince Felipe is expected to fly in tomorrow from Brazil and then return to Madrid to be with his wife, Princess Letizia and their daughter and newborn baby who was cristened on Sunday. The Prince is then expected to return next week with his family once the couple have fulfilled all their official engagements.
The two princesses, the Infantas Elena and Cristina, are scheduled to join the family holiday but royal household sources said yesterday that no dates have been confirmed as yet.
As usual, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero will travel to Palma for two summer meetings with the King at the start and end of August and it is still to be confirmed whether the Spanish monarchs will be joined by any high profile royal or political guests over the course of the summer.
Over the past two weeks, activity at the royal security base near Marivent Palace has steadily picked up and extra members of the Guardia Civil and National Police have already been deployed to the island as part of Operation Summer - to protect the royal family and the hundreds of thousands of tourists who holiday on the island.
The Guardia Civil started mounting spot checks in and around key holiday resorts last month as part of crackdown on petty crime.
Over the next six weeks a ring of steel will be placed around Majorca and the royals with airport and port security tightened.
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.