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Spain's King, Queen Open Visit To Florida

The Associated Press

The visit by Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia is to mark the 450th anniversary of the Spanish arrival in Florida.

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The Associated Press

Published: February 19, 2009

PENSACOLA - In the City of Five Flags on Thursday, it was the red and yellow of the Spanish banner that dominated as King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia helped celebrate the history Pensacola shares with their country.

School children wearing the Spanish colors and thousands of others with signs lined much of the route from Pensacola Beach to downtown to welcome the royal couple, who were invited as part of the 450th anniversary of the first Spanish settlement in what is now the United States.

"We're grateful. Without the Spanish, we wouldn't have La Florida," Gov. Charlie Crist told Juan Carlos and Sofia at the beginning of the visit, giving the state's name the Spanish pronunciation.

The king and queen made several stops, placing a wreath at the site of Fort George, where the Spanish defeated the British in 1781; gazing out at Pensacola Bay from the park that will now be named for the king; speaking to a large crowd in Plaza Ferdinand from a second-story balcony; touring a museum and learning about Spanish artifacts recovered from the state's earliest shipwreck and visiting a naval museum, where the king signed a section of the USS Cabot, a World War II aircraft carrier later loaned to Spain.

After arriving downtown, Juan Carlos and Sofia walked along a barrier shaking hands with people. The king gathered several red carnations from a group of children, politely saying, "Gracias" as one of the girls shouted "We love you!" Sofia was handed yellow roses and other flowers.

One person in the crowd held up a magazine cover from the royal couple's 1962 wedding day. Someone held up another with the queen and her young children. She told the woman she now has grandchildren.

After they entered the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum, Sofia said to Crist, "Very, very nice people." He responded, "They love you, they love you."

The visit highlighted the shared history Spain has with the city and the state.

Spanish sailor Don Tristan de Luna arrived in Pensacola on August 15, 1559, with a contingent of more than 1,500 soldiers, servants, settlers, priests and Mexican Indians. But battered by a hurricane and after losing supplies, the explorers fled within a few years. The Spanish set up a permanent settlement in 1698.

"Though thousands of miles may separate us, centuries of history and culture keep us together forever," Crist said as he introduced Juan Carlos and Sofia to the crowd cheering below the museum's balcony. "Florida and Spain share a unique relationship that is unmatched among other states in our country."

Juan Carlos told the crowd "The queen joins me in thanking you from our hearts for your kind invitation to this beautiful and dynamic city which contains so much of the shared history of Spain and the United States ... We had always wanted to visit you. This great celebration is a unique occasion to do so."

Later, the royal couple seemed fascinated by the artifacts recovered from a galleon from the Luna expedition that sank in Pensacola Bay, the state's earliest shipwreck. The king pointed out rat bones in a display case and Sofia asked about a coin dated 1471.

"Who's on it?" she asked. She was told King Henry IV. "Oh my goodness! Fantastic."

Juan Carlos stopped to look at a display of the five flags that have flown over the city — Spanish, English, French, American and Confederate.

"We have to come back and see the rest of it," Sofia said after the short visit.

Later, during a luncheon at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, Crist, Congressman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., toasted Juan Carlos and Sofia with champagne.

"Thank you ... for the warm welcome you have given to the queen and myself here in this dear city," Juan Carlos said. "A city with strong ties to Spain, to the origins of the United States and to the old friendship that has enriched relations between America and Spain."

Crist and Juan Carlos talked almost nonstop during the lunch.

"We talked about trade, doing some things together," Crist said. "He's a very gracious friendly guy, and it was just a joy to chat with him. We got along swimmingly. We talked about boating. He likes to get out and boat once in a while, I told him I like to fish."

At night, Juan Carlos and Sofia dined with Crist and his wife and about 400 guests at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. The dinner kicked off the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which focuses on Spanish cuisine this year. Guests paid $1,000 each to dine with them. Food was prepared by top Spanish chefs, while chef Mario Batali emceed the event. The money raised during the event will go to charity.

Outside, as Juan Carlos and Sofia arrived, about a dozen loud anti-Castro protestors were demonstrating across the street in front of the hotel. They were protesting Spain's assistance to Cuba.

"God bless you. God bless Spain and God bless Florida," Crist said before the dinner began.

Meanwhile, Juan Carlos thanked everyone who put the dinner together and said that the Spanish pavilion at the festival, which he will inaugurate Friday, will allow people to visit Spain in a way.

Singers Julio Iglesias and Gloria Estefan were also at the dinner.

"This is an important night," Iglesias said.

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