Dilip Kuner
SEVILLA’s Moorish Royal Alcazar palace is famed for the colourful splash of its orange trees.
But palace authorities face a problem of what to do with all the fruit when they pick them to encourage new blossoms.
Now they have decided to get rid of some of the problem by sending then to Queen Elizabeth.
In a revival of an old tradition, a crate of the citrus fruit is destined to be packaged up and presented as a gift, with the oranges to be turned into marmalade to grace the royal breakfast table.
The tradition of Sevilla gifting oranges to the British royal family dates back to the reign of Queen Victoria. Her granddaughter Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg married into the Spanish House of Bourbon.
Now Sevilla’s mayor Juan Espadas has decided to revive the tradition in the hope that it will help bring more people to discover and visit the city.
“Undoubtedly, the United Kingdom and France are countries that send many visitors to Spain, and Seville in particular,” Espadas told AP.
“So, in a way, we connect the flavors, the experiences they live when they come to visit us with what they do every day, for example, having breakfast with marmalade.”
But any thoughts of the Queen herself rolling up her sleeves and making her own marmalade have been banished.
A crate of oranges will be turned into marmalade at the residence of the British ambassador to Spain and Andorra before being delivered to Queen Elizabeth II as a gift.
