Queen Letizia Slips on Fishing Boat Deck in Llanes
Queen Letizia of Spain slipped and fell onto the deck of a fishing boat in Llanes, a port on the northern coast of Spain, on Saturday 24 October 2026. Aides rushed to her side, and she got back on her feet unaided, according to Hello! magazine.
The royal family was in Llanes as a group. King Felipe, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía were with the queen for the engagement. The Spanish Royal Household, the office that keeps the royals' public diary, records the event at Puerto de Llanes, the town's harbour, in the Principality of Asturias, on 24.10.2026.
The main purpose of the visit was a ceremony. The royal family presented the 2026 Exemplary Town of Asturias award to the Santa Ana Fishermen's Guild. The Royal Household's website links the award to a cofradía, a traditional brotherhood of the kind that has long organised religious and working life in Spanish coastal towns. That cofradía, the site says, received its confirmation from the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1480.
The family also took a short tour of a fishing boat. Hello! reported that the sea had been rough the day before the visit, with high waves splashing over the vessel's deck.
The Llanes engagement followed two days of events in Oviedo, the regional capital. On 22 October 2026, the King and Queen attended the XXXIV Princess of Asturias Awards Concert, accompanied by the Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía. The next evening, 23 October, the Princess of Asturias Awards presentation ceremony took place at the Teatro Campoamor. The Royal Household lists Queen Doña Sofía, the queen emerita, as attending that ceremony.
The Princess of Asturias Awards are a set of prizes presented each year in Oviedo, named after the heir to the Spanish throne. The Exemplary Town award, by contrast, goes to a single community in the region each year. Both appear on the Royal Household's planned agenda, which sets out the royal family's public commitments in advance.
