It has been a hundred years since, between March 26 and April 5, 1906, King Alfonso XIII visited the seven Canary Islands. At that time, to announce his arrival in Lanzarote from Fuerteventura, a carrier pigeon informed the authorities of Lanzarote that, two hours later, the king would arrive on the island. One hundred years later, the king, this time Juan Carlos I, is visiting the Archipelago again next November and Lanzarote is on his tour of the seven islands.
It will be next November 25 when King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía arrive in Lanzarote, precisely to celebrate the centenary of the visit of his grandfather, Alfonso XIII. The definitive announcement was made this Wednesday by the President of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Gabriel Mato, who presented in Arrecife the conference cycle "The Monarchy and the Canary Islands: 100 years of the first royal visit", organized by the regional Parliament.
In addition to Gabriel Mato, it was a journalist, professor of Latin, politician and member of the personal cabinet of Don Juan de Borbón, Antonio Fontán, who was in charge of presenting these conferences, of which he himself was a speaker. The stage that hosted the conference, this Wednesday, by Antonio Fontán was the Castle of San José, where the professor offered his vision on the turbulent "although fruitful", as he himself called them, relations between the Dynasty and Franco.
In total there will be 27 conferences in which thirteen leading experts in the field will participate. The first of the presentations has already been held and was given by the historian Paul Preston. In addition to the cycle of presentations, the Parliament of the Canary Islands has organized a graphic exhibition on those hundred years of the first royal visit, which will pass through all the islands of the Archipelago. Although as Gabriel Mato pointed out, "the real protagonists of this commemoration are the Kings of Spain, who between November 22 and 27 will tour the Canary Islands".
