King, Queen and daughters seen strolling through Palma streets 'like any other family on holiday'

PEDESTRIANS out and about in Palma de Mallorca's historic quarter are still pinching themselves after seeing the Royal family out for a stroll in their midst.

No sunglasses, hats or other disguises, no entourage or bodyguards – just a couple of teenage girls in cotton frocks and espadrilles, and their parents in shirts and shorts, pottering along the C/ Jaume II and the Plaza Mayor in a relaxed, unhurried manner.

In fact, judging from footage captured by passers-by, any holidaymakers who are not familiar with Spain's Royals would not have been able to tell King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, and their two daughters from any other family in town.

The monarchs, Princess Leonor, 16 and the Infanta Sofía, 15 were then seen ambling along the C/ Sindicat, a key shopping street in the Balearic capital.

Only eagle-eyed fashion experts would have been able to spot any difference between the average family of tourists and the Royals – the fact Queen Letizia's white shirt and flat white espadrilles were Hugo Boss.

But HRH Letizia does not wear top-end designer clothing simply because she is married to the head of State and mother to the immediate heir to the throne – the Queen makes no secret of her appreciation for high-street chains, often being seen even at prestigious, international and official events in the line of duty wearing pieces from Zara and Mango.

She was seen in a pink cotton print Zara mini-dress on Sunday during a three-generations girls' night out in Palma with Leonor and Sofía and the teens' paternal grandmother, Queen Sofía.

Leonor was wearing the same €30 Zara dress, but in blue.

King Felipe was in Colombia for the swearing-in ceremony of the South American country's new president, so the ladies went out for dinner in the well-known restaurant Beatnik. 

Afterwards, they had a stroll around the night flea market on the Paseo Sagrera, admiring the hand-crafted jewellery and accessories in particular.

Fellow stall-browsers say Queen Letizia had to stop and bend down to retie her shoe straps at one point, and the Infanta Sofía was carrying her mobile phone on a shoulder strap, realising too late that it had gone into camera mode and taken multiple blurred pictures of feet.

King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, the King's mother HRH Sofía, and his and Letizia's daughters have always spent their summer break at the family holiday home, Marivent, in Mallorca.

At least twice, the girls have spent the first month of their school holidays at a camp in the USA, to perfect their English, before joining their parents and grandmother in August in Mallorca.

Towards the end of August, Princess Leonor will be heading to Wales for her second and final year at her prestigious sixth-form college, which she won a place at in 2021 after taking an extremely tough, anonymous exam.

She lives in fairly spartan conditions on campus with students from all over the world, over 60% of whom are on a part or full scholarship.