Spain has formally complained to Britain over Prince Edward’s forthcoming trip to Gibraltar.

British Ambassador Giles Paxman was told officials are ‘upset and unhappy’ about next month’s visit to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, has taken a tough stance over the peninsula but Andrew Rosindell, chairman of the Overseas Territories All-Party Parliamentary Group, said: ‘Gibraltar may be close to Spain, but it is not Spanish and its people do not want to be Spanish. 

Formal complaint: Spanish officials are unhappy about Prince Edward and wife Sophie's forthcoming visit to Gibraltar

 

No laughing matter: Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo has spearheaded his nation's tough stance over the island

‘Members of the Royal Family are perfectly entitled to go to any of Her Majesty’s territories in any part of the world whenever they want. I thought Spain had grown up.’

Edward is to start a three-day visit to the British colony on June 13.

A spokeswoman for Spain's Foreign Ministry denied local reports Mr Paxman, brother of Newsnight presenter Jeremy, had been summonsed to its Madrid HQ over the visit.

But she said the subject was raised during a scheduled meeting between the British diplomat and Santiago Cabanas Ansorena, Foreign Policy Director at Spain's Foreign Office.

An official statement released by Spain's Foreign Office said: 'In the course of their conversation and among other subjects, Mr Cabanas Ansorena took the opportunity to express his government's upset and unhappiness over the visit by the Earl and Countess of Wessex to Gibraltar between June 11 and 13.'

Prince Edward and his wife will take part in a series of events to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.

 

 

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