This year there was no doubt. The Kings, Princess Eleonor and Infanta Sofia have chosen an unpublished image captured on October 31, the day of the heir's 18th birthday and the oath of the Constitution, to illustrate the traditional Christmas greeting. The four appear in a family photo, and also institutional, in the gallery of the Royal Palace, shortly after arriving from the Congress and before the ceremony of imposing the collar of Charles III and the subsequent lunch attended by the representatives of the high institutions of the State. With this image, the Kings wanted to extend until Christmas the symbolism of the day when Princess Eleonor came of age and expressed her commitment to service in Spain.
Zarzuela made public the royal family's congratulations yesterday. One of the Kings and their daughters, and another of the Kings Juan Carlos and Sofia, who, as they had done in previous years, have opted for a religious print. This time, the painting they chose was Adoración de los pastores, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Despite the fact that, in fact, King Juan Carlos has not lived in the Zarzuela or in Spain since the summer of 2020, at Christmas the Zarzuela recognizes his belonging to the royal family.
The congratulations, in addition to the people belonging to the family or private circle, are sent physically to the people, groups or entities that have had contact with the royal family during the year and are also uploaded on the website Casareal.es and on the account of X @CasaReal.
Last year the photo chosen for the congratulations of the Kings and their daughters was one in which only Princess Eleonor and Infanta Sofia appeared in an image captured in the garden of the Zarzuela Palace, after the Princess of Asturias arrived in Madrid to spend the Christmas holidays. Elionor was then studying the second year of the international baccalaureate at the Atlantic College in Wales.
The previous year, in 2021, the congratulation of the Kings and their daughters, Princess Eleonor and Infanta Sofia, was illustrated with a photo of the four in the gardens of their residence in La Zarzuela, taking advantage of the presence of the Princess Eleonor in Spain to attend, in Oviedo, the presentation of the Princess of Asturias awards.
Since the proclamation of King Felipe in 2014, the Zarzuela has made public the two congratulations every year. A photo has always been used for the Kings and their daughters, while for the Kings Emeritus, from 2014 to 2017, a Christmas-themed picture was used; in 2018, a photo of Joan Carles and Sofia taken on the 80th birthday of the King's mother was chosen, and in 2019, one of the couple taken in Sanxenxo (A Coruña) the previous summer.
For Christmas 2020, the first since King Juan Carlos left Spain in August 2020, a religious image was chosen, which reproduced a Christmas altarpiece, and in 2021, the aforementioned reproduction of the Neapolitan nativity scene.
