From the meeting with the Infanta Sofia to the audience with Meryl Streep: the agenda of the Spanish royal family for the 2023 Princess of Asturias awards

The 2023 Princess of Asturias Awards, which will be presented on Friday 20 October, will undoubtedly be special for Princess Leonor, who will give her traditional speech at a few days from reaching the age of majority (which will happen on October 31st).

For the heir to the throne it will also be an opportunity to reunite with his family while he attends the General Military Academy of Zaragoza. Recently, the princess had the opportunity to see her parents, King Felipe VI and Queen Letiziaon the occasion of the parade on October 12, which he presided with them in gala uniform, but this time he will also be able to see his sister, the infant Sofiawho is currently studying at UWC Atlantic, Wales, just like she did.

We remind you that the recipients of this year’s Princess of Asturias awards starting from 6.30pm on Friday 20th at the Campoamor Theater (where both Princess Leonor and the King will give a speech) are Meryl StreepPrincess of Asturias Award for the Arts; Nuccio OrderPrincess of Asturias Award for Communication and the Humanities (in her place, her partner, Rosalia Broccolo, and her sister, Maria Ordine will be present at the award ceremony); Hélène Carrère d’EncaussePrincess of Asturias Prize for Social Sciences (having passed away last August, her son will participate in the ceremony Emmanuel Carrèrealso winner of the Princess of Asturias Prize for Letters in 2021); Eliud KipchogePrincess of Asturias Award for Sport; Haruki Murakami, Princess of Asturias Prize for Letters; there Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (research initiative against forgotten diseases), Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation; Jeffrey Gordon, E. Peter Greenberg, and Bonnie L. Bassler, Princess of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research; And Mary’s MealsPrincess of Asturias Award for Concordia.

Some of the winners (such as Bassler, Greenberg and Murakami) are already in Oviedo. On the morning of Tuesday 17th, the first two will meet the students, and then hold a press conference at the Hotel de la Reconquista starting at 4pm. The day will end with a conference on microbes open to the public at 7.30pm at the La Vega Armas Factory.

Furthermore, on the sidelines of the royal agenda, the morning of Wednesday 18 October will come one of the most awaited winners of the award, Meryl Streep, was officially welcomedwho that same evening, at 7.30 pm, will be the protagonist of a meeting with the public (booking required on www.fpa.es) at the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos de Oviedo (PEC), where she will talk for more than an hour with Antonio Banderas about the profession of actress and her own experience and artistic career. At the same time, in a private event, Murakami will meet members of public library reading clubs at the Jovellanos Theater in Gijón.

As per tradition, the entire royal family will not arrive in Oviedo on the day of the awards ceremony, but rather the day before, Thursday 19 October, to preside over the XXXI Princess of Asturias Awards Concertwhich will be held at 7.30 pm in the Príncipe Felipe Auditorium in Oviedo.

The royal agenda will also be full of commitments on the morning of Friday 20 October. Starting at 11.20am, the royals and their daughters will receive in audience at the Hotel de la Reconquista the winners of the “Graduation Thesis 2022” awards, the recipients of the “2023 Asturias Medals” and the presidents of the jury of the Princess Awards of Asturias, members of business associations and emeritus entrepreneurs and, finally, the winners of the 2023 Princess of Asturias awards, to the which the king will confer the banner of the Foundation.

The week will conclude with the presentation of the Exemplary Village of Asturias 2023 award, on Saturday 21 October at 11.30 am, an award which this year will be presented by Their Majesties to the towns of Arroes, Pion and Candanal, all three belonging to the municipality of Villaviciosa.