President Reuven Rivlin and First Lady Nechama Rivlin officially began their State Visit to Spain this morning, welcomed by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain with an official welcoming ceremony at the Royal Palace in Madrid. Following a gun salute, the King and the President together reviewed a military guard of honor, and stood together with the Queen and First Lady for the national anthems of both countries.

President and First Lady Rivlin’s State Visit to Spain, at the invitation of the King, marked 30 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Spain, and celebrated 100 years since the reestablishment of the Jewish community in Spain after the Expulsion of 1492. This is the first State Visit of an Israeli President to Spain for a quarter of a century, when then President Chaim Herzog visited for the symbolic and historic signing of the cancellation of the expulsion order of Jews from Spain.