<\/p>\n
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh have sent a heartfelt message
\nat the end of a special royal event that\u2019s gone largely
\nunnoticed.<\/p>\n
Edward and Sophie said a big thank you to the people of Portugal
\nafter an official visit to the country that lasted several
\ndays.<\/p>\n
However, the important visit has taken place with little
\nfanfare.<\/p>\n
The couple arrived in Portugal on June 1 where they were plunged
\ninto royal history as they marked the anniversary of a treaty that
\nbegan with a regal wedding.<\/p>\n
This year is the 640th anniversary of the Treaty of Windsor
\nwhich consolidated the alliance between England and Portugal, one
\nof the oldest diplomatic allegiances in the world. As part of that
\ntreaty, the King of Portugal, Joao I, married Philippa, a
\ngranddaughter of King Edward III. Philippa became Queen of Portugal
\nand an expert politician and diplomat.<\/p>\n
Over six centuries on, the diplomacy was placed in the hands of
\nthe Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh whose official visit to Portugal
\nincluded several key moments. The trip began with Edward and Sophie
\nhelping to initiate the exhibition at the \u00a0Portuguese National
\nArchive about the treaty. The display includes the first showing of
\nthe English and Portuguese copies side by side since they were
\nsigned in 1386.<\/p>\n
Edward and Sophie won plenty of fans by making like Lisbon
\nlocals and hopping on one of the trams which form the backbone of
\nthe city\u2019s public transport network. The Duke of Edinburgh looked
\nparticularly delighted to be presented with a model of one of the
\niconic trams.<\/p>\n
Both the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh\u2019s work includes
\nsupporting young people and Prince Edward spent part of the visit
\nat an international school. During his time at St. Julian\u2019s, the
\nDuke joined in tile painting and saw the work of CERCICA, an
\norganisation that helps young people and adults with
\ndisabilities.<\/p>\n
The Duke also met some of Portugal\u2019s star Paralympians during a
\nsession on inclusive sports activities. He was shown some of the
\nsecrets of success in boccia, one of the sports that Portugal\u2019s
\nParalympic team has excelled in and he also met Portuguese
\nParalympic Committee members.<\/p>\n
A large part of Prince Edward\u2019s work has been centred around the
\nDuke of Edinburgh Award, of which he is President. It didn\u2019t take
\nlong for the prince to meet up with some of those taking part in
\nthe International Award in Lisbon. During his time with
\nparticipants and leaders, he helped pitch a tent or two as he heard
\nabout the Award\u2019s work in Portugal where over 50 schools and
\ncolleges now participate.<\/p>\n
Sophie headed to the National Defence Institute where she joined
\nstudents for a model NATO, an initiative of the \u00a0British
\nEmbassy Lisbon which has brought together young people from
\nPortugal and the UK for the past four years. During the session,
\nthe students take part in their own version of NATO\u2019s North
\nAtlantic Council and this time, they had a keynote speech from the
\nDuchess of Edinburgh as part of their session.<\/p>\n
Bringing another of her passions to the conference, Sophie spoke
\nabout Women, Peace and Security \u2013 she has carried out intense work
\naround the issue and is part of the UK\u2019s Preventing Sexual Violence
\nin Conflict Initiative.<\/p>\n
As their second day in Portugal ended, the Duke and Duchess of
\nEdinburgh came together again to visit TEKEVER, which is a leading
\nUK-Portuguese aerospace company. The visit also included a display
\nof flight technology including watching an Unmanned Aircraft System
\nbeing put together by a team from both countries.<\/p>\n
A moving visit to Batalha Monastery followed with the Duke of
\nEdinburgh laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sophie had an historic tribute to make. She visited
\nthe Tomb of King Joao and Queen Philippa of Portugal, whose
\nmarriage had helped cement the Treaty of Windsor, and left flowers
\nin remembrance.<\/p>\n
There was another poignant moment for Edward and Sophie as they
\nheaded to the Veterans Museum near the Monastery. One of the
\nexhibits there is the preserved wreath of flowers that was laid at
\nthe Tomb of King Joao and Queen Philippa in 1957 by Queen Elizabeth
\nII during her visit to Batalha Monastery.<\/p>\n
The visit of the Duke of Duchess of Edinburgh to Portugal ended
\nin the city of Porto, where they were greeted by the mayor, Pedro
\nDuarte, and the President of the Municipal Assembly, Marta
\nMassada.<\/p>\n
There was a special honour for Edward and Sophie as they were
\npresented with the Keys to the City.<\/p>\n
Their time in Porto also saw them head to the British School
\nwhere Prince Edward met more students involved in the Duke of
\nEdinburgh International Award and once again followed in the
\nfootsteps of his parents as both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince
\nPhilip visited there.<\/p>\n
It wouldn\u2019t be a visit to Portugal without a glass of port and
\nthe final stages of this unheralded official visit saw the Duke and
\nDuchess of Edinburgh at the British Factory House which was the hub
\nof the trade around the drink in the 18th century, when it was a
\nlucrative business for London merchants.<\/p>\n
The tour ended, as it had begun, with the story of Joao and
\nPhilippa, the king and queen who helped cement ties between
\nPortugal and England. At Porto Cathedral, the Duke and Duchess of
\nEdinburgh were given a tour of the church in which the couple had
\nbeen married and they saw the cloister of the church which had been
\nbuilt in honour of the new queen and which is decorated with
\nanother emblem of Portugal, the famous blue and white tiles known
\nas azulejos.<\/p>\n
Just before they left, Edward and Sophie enjoyed some music and
\ndance shows and then made their own mark. At Graham\u2019s Port Lodge,
\nthey were asked to \u2018christen\u2019 a barrel of port, a traditional
\nceremony during a royal visit. Both threw a glass of port over the
\nbarrel where new port is now maturing. It provided another link to
\nthe past for Edward and Sophie during a visit that helped cement
\nold ties with new diplomacy.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalcentral.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh have sent a heartfelt message at the end of a special royal event that\u2019s gone largely unnoticed. Edward and Sophie said a big thank you to the people of Portugal after an official visit to the country that lasted several days. However, the important visit has taken place with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2444598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2444597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/This-spectacular-royal-event-has-happened-with-no-one-noticing.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2444599,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444597\/revisions\/2444599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2444598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}