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| KINGDOM OF SPAIN |

| GOBIERNO IMPERIAL DE ESPAÑA |

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Spain begins preparations for crowning of Princess Leonor ahead of royal coronation on February 19

| As the end of the first month of 2025 approaches, official preparations orchestrated by the Spanish government, mainly the Ministry of the Interior, for the crowning of Princess Leonor of Spain began gaining steam when Prime Minister Augustina Torres returned from her tour of Catalonia earlier today to chair the government-appointed committee in charge of all the necessary preparations for the historic event. His Majesty King Felipe VI, the current monarch and head of state of Spain who announced his abdication earlier in the month due to health concerns, has stated from his hospital bed in Madrid that it is to be expected that his 'recovery will be swift' and his attendance to his daughter's coronation 'will most likely be guaranteed'. Other high-profile attendees to the coronation include President Emmanuel Macron from the French Republic, Emperor Naruhito of the Empire of Japan, Jose Luis Zapatero, Mariano Rajoy, both former Prime Ministers of Spain, as well as countless other Spanish politicians from all over the country. |

| In terms of actual preparations, the Congress of Deputies of Spain (Palacio de las Cortes in Spanish), the official seat of the Cortes Generales of Spain, is currently undergoing preparations for the historic event. The Palacio de las Cortes was last used for a Spanish royal coronation in 2014 when Felipe VI was crowned King of Spain. Surprisingly enough, only eleven years after his coronation, his daughter and successor will be crowned in the exact same spot. While regular day-to-day legislative proceedings continue to go normally within the palace halls, preparations outside, which include a vigorous cleaning of windows, rooftops, and prominent pillars, have begun to take place. Public tours into the palace will be halted on the 25th of January, five days ahead of a scheduled security inspection by the Guardia Civil and the Madrid police in order to ensure the building is secure for the coming event. |

| Following the formal coronation at the stroke of midnight on the 19th of February, a 'public ceremony' will be held later in the day at twelve o'clock in the afternoon wherein the new monarch, in this case Princess Leonor, will speak to the Cortes Generales for the first time, before participating in a parade through the streets of Madrid as mandated by Spanish tradition. The new Queen of Spain will then speak in front of the crowds at the Palace of Zarzuela, the official residences of the Spanish royal family. The Ministry of the Interior confirmed that high-profile attendees such as President Macron, Emperor Hirohito, and the former Spanish Prime Ministers will be attending both the formal coronation and the public ceremony and parade later in the day. The preparation committee in charge of 'setting up the scene' for the coronation in the 19th of February has yet to announce whether or not high-profile attendees will be participating in the parade in some form. |

| The security detail for the coronation, while details haven't been fully disclosed to the public for obvious reasons, is also supposedly going to be stepped up due to the importance of some of the high-profile attendees such as the head of state of France and the leading monarch of the Empire of Japan, both considerably close Spanish allies. Entry into the 'central zone', or the rough 3 kilometer sphere around the Palacio de las Cortes, will be severely restricted to chosen observers, press officers, and Spanish citizens with no criminal record, according to official police documents. While the wider Spanish public will of course be allowed to watch as the parade moves through the streets of Madrid, the Madrid Municipal Police will be deploying anti-bomb squadrons and anti-terrorism units to ensure that 'no disruptions occur during the length of the ceremony'. |

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