The Government has agreed to posthumously award Concha Velasco the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel la Católica, as announced this Tuesday by the Government spokesperson and Minister of Education, Vocational Training, and Sports, Pilar Alegría, in the subsequent press conference. to the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
"I know that all of you will agree with me that if there is an artist loved by this country and by all Spaniards, it was Concha Velasco," Alegría stated when detailing the concession.
As stated in the regulations, this distinction aims to “reward those extraordinary behaviors of a civil nature, carried out by Spanish and foreign people, that benefit the Nation or that contribute, in a relevant way, to favoring relations of friendship and cooperation. of the Spanish Nation with the rest of the international community.”
The actress Concha Velasco died this Saturday, December 2 at the age of 84 at the Puerta de Hierro Hospital in Majadahonda (Madrid). Born in Valladolid on November 29, 1939, she has been buried in her hometown, where she rests in the Pantheon of Illustrious Citizens of the Carmen cemetery.
Velasco suffered lymphatic cancer in 2014 and, after the pandemic, she herself acknowledged that her condition had worsened. It was in March 2022 when her son Manuel de ella announced to the media that her mother was admitted to a residence so that she would be cared for 24 hours a day.
On the day of her death, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, referred to the actress as an "example of dedication, constant work, talent and commitment." During his visit to the funeral chapel, he assured that television, culture, art, theater and cinema in Spain "would not be known and could not be understood without the contribution of Concha Velasco."
In her career she was recognized with the Goya Honor Award in 2013, the Gold Medal from the Film Academy in 2003, the Gold Medal for Merit at Work in 2008, the 'Toda una vida' Award from the Television Academy in 2009, the Medal of Honor from the Circle of Cinematographic Writers 2010, and the Max Honorific Award 2019, among others.
