Jorge Hinojosa
SPAIN’S Queen Letizia toured alongside Prince Charles on Tuesday at the first museum in the UK devoted entirely to Spanish art.
Queen Letizia was welcomed by Prince Charles on Tuesday at Auckland Castle before the pair were given a tour of the gallery.
Prince Charles, 73, greeted the 49-year-old Spanish queen with a kiss on her hand and cheek.
The Spanish Gallery, located in a converted high street bank in the British town of Bishop Auckland, opened late last year and was dubbed ‘the Prado of the North’.
On its walls hang masterpieces from the Spanish Golden Age by painters including El Greco, Murillo and Velazquez.
The museum also includes a Spanish restaurant serving tapas from locally sourced and organic products.
The new museum is part of the Auckland Project, a regeneration scheme backed by art collector and philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer.
In 2010, he bought Auckland Castle and its contents which included several paintings by Francisco Zurbaran.
Many pieces included in the first show are from Ruffer’s personal collection Ruffer with additional loans from Museo del Prado, the Hispanic Society of America and other major collections of Spanish art.
It’s not the first time the Spanish Queen and British heir to the throne have enjoyed an art exhibition together.
In 2019 both were in attendance to open the Joaquin Sorolla exhibition at London’s National Gallery.
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