Zarzuela confirmed that Felipe VI and Letizia will travel to Ceuta and Melilla on October 13 and 14, 2026, for their first official visit to both cities. It will also mark the first visit by a Spanish monarch since 2007.
Le360 was the first to react. The Moroccan newspaper, close to Mohamed VI’s circle, put the story on its front page in Spanish and English. It called the trip a setback for the current policy of easing tensions.
Morocco’s government and diplomatic authorities have issued no formal response. The Royal Household has also made no official statement. ABC reported that neither had commented publicly at the time of publication.
Madrid has presented the journey as a routine institutional visit, intended to strengthen ties between the central government and the two cities.
Le360 sees it differently. The paper ties the timing to a dispute dating back to the colonial period and says the trip could amount to a diplomatic provocation.
Le360 links the visit to the summer’s migration tensions. It also accuses Spain’s political right of taking hostile positions towards Morocco. The paper says the King and Queen’s presence could lend institutional weight to positions held by the Partido Popular and Vox, which it describes as xenophobic and bellicose.
The newspaper also rejects claims that Moroccan authorities were responsible for the mass entry into Ceuta in July. Le360 says Morocco has committed human and material resources to securing the area against clandestine migration.
Le360 contrasts that position with what it calls the maturity Spain and Morocco have reached in cooperating against criminal networks and managing migration flows. The July events remain part of the political backdrop, although Morocco rejects the accusations directed at it.
Morocco claims Ceuta and Melilla, while Spain considers both cities part of its territory. International reports say Rabat will likely read the royal visit as a political signal that could raise tensions in the bilateral relationship. No official diplomatic crisis has been declared.
EFE reported that the October journey will be Felipe VI and Letizia’s first official visit to both cities. Zarzuela announced the trip on Thursday, describing it as an institutional activity intended to reinforce ties between the Spanish state and Ceuta and Melilla.
Le360 says that explanation overlooks the diplomatic setting. The paper casts the trip as a test of the current relationship with Morocco and a visit to what some Moroccan media describe as occupied enclaves. That language remains part of the media debate, not an official state statement.
In November 2007, Juan Carlos and Sofía travelled to Ceuta and Melilla. Morocco recalled its ambassador to Spain, Omar Azziman, who remained in Rabat for two months. Bilateral meetings were suspended, leaving Madrid without diplomatic interlocution with Morocco.
Morocco’s prime minister at the time, Abbas el Fassi, told Parliament the journey had crossed red lines tied to what Rabat called the country’s territorial integrity. Mohamed VI’s Royal Household later condemned the visit in a statement read by a royal adviser.
The statement called the trip regrettable. It came despite the good relations José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s socialist government then maintained with Rabat.
Spain has announced a royal visit to two disputed cities. Moroccan official institutions have stayed silent, while a newspaper close to Mohamed VI has issued the first public denunciation. The 2007 episode shows that a similar visit once prompted direct diplomatic retaliation.
The trip alone does not establish that a new crisis has begun. It shows how quickly a routine royal itinerary can become a public test of the fragile language of rapprochement. Zarzuela’s institutional framing does not resolve the dispute surrounding the journey.
