The Queen of Spain visited the Integrated Professional Training Center 'Politécnico de Santiago', in Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña) on Wednesday to officially open the Vocational Training courses for the 2020/2021 academic year.

After the formal greetings and the unveiling of the commemorative plaque, Her Majesty held a meeting with representatives of the faculty, professionals and students in the library.  

Subsequently, the Queen toured the facilities and was greeted by teachers and staff of the centre. 

The King and Queen of Spain attended the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Instituto Cervantes at  Palacio Real de El Pardo, Madrid.

The director of the Institute, Luis García Montero, and the general secretary, Carmen Noguero detailed the most notable academic and cultural data of the course that is closing, which has been marked by the COVID-19 crisis. The meeting also addressed the Strategic Plan for 2021-2023 and the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the institution next year. 

The Instituto Cervantes is a worldwide non-profit organisation which was created by the Spanish government in 1991, to promote the teaching, study and use of Spanish and to contribute to the dissemination of Hispanic cultures abroad. In its activities, the Cervantes Institute mainly attends to the linguistic and cultural heritage that is common to the countries and people of the Spanish-speaking community. It is present in 86 centres distributed in 45 countries on five continents. In addition, its headquarters are in Madrid and Alcalá de Henares, the birthplace of the writer Miguel de Cervantes, one of the most important figures in the history of Spanish literature.

Unfortunately there are limited photos from this event. From what we can see, Queen Letizia wore repeated pieces. She teamed her black high-waist full-circle skirt with the white Uterque relaxed-fit keyhole blouse.  Her Majesty accessorized with her custom black and white Magrit 'Ivi' leather clutch bag and matching pumps.

The Queen of Spain held a working meeting with the Spanish Red Cross to learn about the response capacity of the RESPONDE Plan in the face of COVID-19 and the new challenges of the humanitarian organisation, at the Headquarters in Madrid. ​

During the session, Her Majesty was informed of the main data of the Red Cross intervention, as well as the efforts of the organisation to adapt its response based on the needs detected at all times. The Red Cross begins the second phase of its RESPONDE Plan against COVID-19, which launched in March to serve the most vulnerable people in the face of the pandemic. It will focus its efforts on improving access to employment and the fight against the digital divide, among other key interventions in areas such as health and emergency response.  ​

The Red Cross RESPONDE Plan represents the largest humanitarian operation in the history of the organisation in terms of mobilising resources, capacities and people, and has supported, to date, more than 2.5 million people of which 65% have been women. More than 59,000 volunteers have participated in the RESPONDE Plan, 60% women, with an average age of 36 years.