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Queen Letizia and King Felipe of Spain paid the last tribute to Doña Pilar de Borbón in Madrid on January 10. The sister of King Felipe’s dad, King Juan Carlos. sadly died at 83 on January 8 after a battle against colon cancer. Her funeral, celebrated in Madrid, took place in the most strict privacy following the wishes of the family. Other Spanish royals such as Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina as well as their parents King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía also attended the ceremony where Doña Pilar’s ashes were buried in the family’s pantheon. It was her wish to rest by her husband Luís Gomez-Acebo’s side.
Members of the government, as well as many other personalities of the Spanish society, have shown their condolences to the Gomez-Acebo de Borbón family. King Juan Carlos’ grandchildren Victoria Federica , Juan Urdangarín, Beatriz de Orleans and Luis Alfonso de Borbón, as well as Queen Letizia and King Felipe, visited Infanta Pilar’s funeral chapel on the days before the final goodbye.
Pilar de Borbón was Juan de Borbón and Battenberg, Count of Barcelona, and María de las Mercedes de Borbón y Orleans’ first daughter and elder sister of King Juan Carlos. Last year she was diagnosed with colon cancer and she had to undergo surgery as well as chemotherapy.