Every week, the Royal Blog selects the photo of the week for you. This Friday we take you to Amsterdam with the Dutch and Spanish royal couples.
What photo is this?
The photo we selected was taken this Wednesday April 17, 2024 at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. It shows King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands flanking King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain.
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While the two monarchs wear tails, their wives wear evening dresses, accompanied by prestigious tiaras. The Stuart tiara, topped with its exceptional pear-shaped diamond of 39.75 carats for the wife of the Dutch sovereign, the “Russian” tiara in platinum, diamonds and pearls of the queens of Spain for its Spanish counterpart.
While their husbands greet a man in evening dress with a smile, the two queen consorts exchange words and looks. All four are lined up, but in this image the attention is on Queen Letizia, the only one not standing.
Why did we choose this photo?
Nothing very surprising on this first evening of the Spanish royal couple’s state visit to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to see them together receiving the guests of the state banquet which is about to be served in the Burgerzaal. Except for the fact that Queen Letizia is sitting there. A posture which can be explained by the foot problems from which she has been suffering for some time. And which apparently are not getting better, as several Spanish media have reported.
In September 2022, we learned, as part of a report in the Sunday magazine “El País Semanal” devoted to the Queen of Spain as a prelude to her 50th birthday, that the latter suffered, in silence, from chronic metatarsalgia, in particular on one of his feet. Under this medical term are pain and inflammation of the soles of the feet. Which would be linked to excessive use of high-heeled shoes, “which she hates” moreover, it was underlined.
Letizia also suffers from “Morton’s neuroma”
However, these would not be his only foot ailments. For a long time, the mother of Princesses Leonor and Sofia has also suffered from “Morton’s neuroma”. Or a compression of a nerve located between two metatarsal bones. And this pathology causes quite intense pain under the base of the toes and between them. To the point that the person is even prevented from walking.
We understand better why it was impossible for Queen Letizia to remain static for a long time during this long parade of guests. And this also justifies her choice of having only worn slingbacks with very small stiletto heels – not stilettos like Queen Maxima – during the two days of this state visit.
Low-heeled slingbacks for Queen Letizia of Spain, stilettos for Queen Maxima of the Netherlands in Amsterdam, April 17, 2024 SIPA / © Patrick van Katwijk/MPE