Spanish Royal Family witness traditional national day parade

King Felipe VI of Spain presided over his third Spanish National Day parade on Monday as around 3,400 military personnel marched through the center of the Spanish capital city.

King Felipe's second parade as monarch (his first was standing in for his father Juan Carlos) also saw a drive past of 48 vehicles and a fly past of 53 aircraft, at an estimated cost of over a million euros (1.14 million US dollars).

The parade involved 400 more troops than in 2014, and on a day designed to highlight the unity of Spain it was attended by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, his cabinet and Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez, as well as General Philip Breedlove, NATO's Supreme Allied commander in Europe.

However, a few key political players did not attend the event. Those included Basque, Catalan and Navarre leaders as well as Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the left-wing party Podemos.

The day began with King Felipe and Queen Letizia paying homage at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Plaza de Neptuno, before moving to the central Plaza de Colon to watch the parade and the fly-past.

The parade included representation of the Spanish army, which at the end of this month will end its 13-year operations in Afghanistan as part of the NATO operation in that country. Also present were Civil Guards and the Navy, while the NATO flag was also on display, given that Spain is one of the host nations of the military exercise "Trident Juncture 2015" on now.
 Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
12/10/15