The kings Felipe VI and Letizia, along with Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía, will this Monday be in charge of presiding over the military parade of the Day of Hispanity in Madrid, an event that this year is celebrated a few weeks before the general elections on November 29 and just before the expected trip of their majesties to Ceuta and Melilla. A total of 4,380 members of the Armed Forces, State Security Forces and Corps, and various public institutions will participate in the event.
The monarchs and the Princess of Asturias will access the royal box at 11:00 hours, after the arrival of the Chief of the Defense Staff (JEMAD), Admiral General Teodoro Esteban López Calderón; the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles; the President, Pedro Sánchez; and the rest of the institutional representatives.
In this edition, it has been communicated that the regional presidents Juanma Moreno (Andalusia); María Chivite (Navarra); and Imanol Pradales (Basque Country) will not attend.
Itinerary and protocol of the parade
The military parade will again take place along the Paseo del Prado and the Paseo de Recoletos. The route will start at the height of the Emperador Carlos V roundabout and will conclude at the Plaza de Colón. This is the fourth consecutive year that this route has been chosen, due to the impossibility of using the Paseo de la Castellana because of the underground traffic works.
The scheme of the event remains the same as in previous years. After the arrival of the Kings, military honors will be rendered, Felipe VI will receive the news from the Chief of the Honor Battalion and will review the formed forces. Next, the monarchs will proceed to greet the present authorities.
Afterwards, there will be a parachute jump in front of the royal box with the flag of Spain, carried out by the Air and Space Army's Parachuting Acrobatic Patrol (PAPEA). The parachutists designated this year are Sergeant 1st Pablo García Matanza and Corporal 1st José Antonio Lago Rubio, both members of the Military National Parachuting Team.
Corporal 1º Lago, originally from Murcia, will carry the national flag, measuring 24 square meters and weighing 15 kilos. He is the current champion of Spain in the discipline of Precision and Landing and has just qualified in this discipline in an international competition held in Switzerland, taking the first position in the master category. He has more than 12,500 parachute jumps and, due to his trajectory, experience, and skill, has been appointed again as "trainer" of the PAPEA in January 2026.
For his part, Sergeant First Matanza, of Galician origin and who will act as a guide, has been part of both the National Military Parachuting Team and the National Civil Parachuting Team. Among his recent achievements is the gold medal in the Absolute Team Classification at the 58th National Military Parachuting Championship, held in April 2026.
He joined the acrobatic patrol in 2019 and has accumulated more than 4,000 jumps. He was already in charge of jumping with the national flag on Armed Forces Day (DIFAS) this year, held in Vigo.
The Mirlo Formation takes over in the air
After the jump, the flag will be raised and a tribute will be held for those who gave their lives for Spain. Next, the Mirlo Formation will fly over the area, which last year replaced the Águila Patrol after the retirement of the C-101s, the planes it used that were decommissioned after 40 years of service in the Air Force.
The Mirlo Formation is made up of five aircraft and flight instructors stationed at the General Air and Space Academy, who operate the new training aircraft for future pilots, the Pilatus PC-21. On this occasion, the aircraft will not have the white smoke generator system installed.
Then the actual air parade will begin, in which 34 fighter and training aircraft, 16 transport aircraft —including the parachute jump aircraft— and 32 helicopters will participate, distributed in 18 formations.
Ground deployment, the goat "Babieca" and the 8x8 Dragón
Next, the ground parade will start. The exhibition of 128 vehicles is planned, including armored cars and heavy intervention vehicles, as well as 39 motorcycles, 286 horses, five dogs, and the mascot of the "Don Juan de Austria" 3rd Tercio of the Legion, a two-year-old goat named "Babieca".
As a novel element, the public will be able to see for the first time three 8x8 Dragón armored vehicles of the Army. Specifically, two units will parade in their Infantry version (VCI) and one in their Sappers version (VCZAP), assigned to the "Rey Alfonso XIII" Brigade of the Legion (BRILEG). However, this is not the first time these armored vehicles participate in a military parade, as two of them were shown in the DIFAS parade held this year in Vigo.
The 8x8 program has been a source of friction between the Ministry of Defense and the consortium Tess Defence, responsible for its development, due to continuous delays in deliveries and various technical incidents detected.
The department headed by Margarita Robles has repeatedly demanded that the consortium —controlled by Indra and in which Santa Bárbara, Sapa, and Escribano also participate— respect the supply deadlines and has warned of possible sanctions and million-dollar fines. At the end of September, Tess Defence delivered a new batch to the Army and nearly 100 units have already been delivered out of the almost 350 planned.
In total, 4,380 members of the Armed Forces, the State Security Forces and Corps, and other civil institutions will participate in the military parade in gala uniform. Of these, 3,850 are men and 530 are women.
At the end of the parade, the Kings will greet the responsible military commanders and the participants, bid farewell, and the national flag will be lowered. Felipe VI, Letizia, Princess Leonor, Infanta Sofía, and the rest of the authorities will then move to the Royal Palace for the traditional reception.
Reception at the Royal Palace and traditional besamanos
The day will continue at the Royal Palace, where, as is customary on the occasion of the National Holiday, the Kings will offer an official reception. This will be the fourth time that Princess Leonor participates in this event. It is expected that around a thousand guests will parade —with intermediate pauses— in the traditional besamanos.
The Royal Palace will once again bring together the main authorities of the State, starting with the President of the Government and almost all the ministers, as well as the presidents of the Congress and the Senate, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the General Council of the Judiciary, among other positions.
As a distinctive element this year, Felipe VI and Letizia have sent invitations to representatives of civil society from Ceuta and Melilla. Likewise, a broad presence of entrepreneurs and figures from the cultural and scientific fields is expected, including award winners of some of the most relevant prizes in the country. And, as has been customary, people who have participated in activities of the Royal Family throughout the year will also attend.