President Barack Obama will host Spain’s royal couple at the White House on Tuesday for their first official visit to Washington since King Felipe VI ascended the throne last year.
The trip falls on Queen Letizia’s 43rd birthday, but the White House has yet to say if the first couple will do anything to celebrate.
So far plans include a bilateral meeting between the king and Obama while the first lady hosts the queen for tea and a tour of her the White House kitchen garden. Spain’s recovering economy and challenges moving forward will be on the agenda as the two leaders convene.
According to a statement from the White House, their visit “reinforces the strong and enduring tired between the American and Spanish people.”
Felipe’s short tenure has not been a smooth ride — his father abdicated the throne to him after 39 years amid numerous scandals and earlier this summer, the new king stripped his sister of her Duchess title after she was accused of tax-evasion.
Queen Letizia, a former journalist, began dating Felipe in 2002, and they were married two years later.
Michelle Obama and her daughter Sasha visited the couple in Mallorca in 2010 before Felipe took the throne.
The White House has been a revolving door of royals, with visits from Jordanian King Abdullah II, Prince William, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman — all in the past year.
Prior to the White House, the King and Queen of Spain will visit the Washington Monument and lay flowers at Mount Vernon Cemetery.