It was on March 21 of 1994 when King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia were officially visiting the city of Ibiza for the last time. They were accompanied in this journey by the then Balearic president, Gabriel Cañellas and the European commissioner Abel Matutes, with whom they took a long walk through Vara de Rey, in addition to attending an exhibition of country dance.

Almost 30 years Ibicencos have had to wait to be able to enjoy again the presence of the current mother of King Felipe VI: Doña Sofía chaired this afternoon the central concert of the seventh edition of the Chamber Music Cycle in World Heritage Cities that was held in the Church of Santo Domingo, in Dalt Vila; a cycle of recitals run by the Higher School of Music that bears his name, considered one of the most prestigious centers of high musical training in the world.

It must be remembered that the concert was scheduled to be held in 2020 but, due to the pandemic, it had to be postponed.

For about an hour works by Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Bizet, Strauss and Debussy were performed, after which, Doña Sofía was leaving the church in an official car. It was not ruled out that the emerita set course for Mallorca, to spend a few days of rest in the palace of Marivent.

The VII Chamber Music cycle in the World Heritage Cities of Spain brings to the general public a selection of the best pieces of chamber music to historical, religious and civil spaces of the 15 Spanish cities included in the Unesco World Heritage List.

Relationship with Ibiza

If in 1994 it was the last time that Doña Sofía visited Ibiza, the relationship of the Real with the Pitiusa island goes back a long way. King Alfonso XIII visited Ibiza in 1904 to inaugurate the monument to Joaquín Vara de Rey, a general hero of the Cuban war, and repeated his visit in 1929 for military exercises.

According to El Periódico de Ibiza, also the Infanta Isabel, known as La Chata, was in Ibiza in 1913. The current kings, Felipe and Letizia, made an official visit to the Balearic island when they were princes of Asturias.

It was in March 2005 and on that trip it was confirmed that the couple was expecting their first daughter, Leonor.

In 2020, already being kings, they returned to Ibiza on a summer tour that replaced the traditional holidays in Mallorca and where they visited the Necropolis of Puig de Molins and the municipality of Sant Antoni de Portmany, where they took a mass bath.

For that occasion, Queen Letizia chose a dress by designer Charo Ruiz that sold out after a few hours.

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