His Royal Highness The Crown Prince Davit of Georgia, accompanied by his elder sister, Her Royal Highness The Princess María Antonieta Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, attended the 25th-anniversary commemoration in honour of His Royal Highness The Infante Juan of Spain, late Count of Barcelona.
At the personal invitation of His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain, Crown Prince Davit joined Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and other descendants and family members of the late Count of Barcelona—the father of King Juan Carlos and grandfather of the present King of Spain—for Mass at the Basilica of the Royal Seat of San Lorenzo de El Escorial at midday on 3 April.
Mass was led by The Most Reverend Monsignor Juan del Río y Martín, Archbishop for the Spanish Forces and Apostolic Administrator of Asidonia-Jerez, and was also attended by several government ministers.
His Royal Highness The Infante Don Juan Carlos Teresa Silverio Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg was the third son and designated heir of His late Majesty King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Queen Victoria Eugenie, granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Born on 20 June 1913, the Infante Don Juan died in Pamplona on 1 April 1993 after a long battle with cancer.
The late Count of Barcelona married Her Royal Highness Princess Doña María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and Orleans in Rome on 12 October 1935. She survived him by seven years. They had four children, ten grandchildren, and seventeen great-grandchildren.
Don Juan’s remains lie in the Pantheon of Kings in San Lorenzo de El Escorial.
The County reverted to the Spanish Crown on the death of HRH Don Juan, and the present Count of Barcelona is HM The King of Spain.
Source: ABC