On October 27th Queen Letizia has a very special engagement in Galician lands. That day, right after the royal family’s intense schedule at the 2026 Princess of Asturias Awards, the wife of King Felipe VI will travel to Ferrol to become for the first time the godmother of a military vessel. This has been confirmed by the newspaper La Voz de Galicia, pending the official announcement from the Palace of La Zarzuela.
If a year ago it was the queen emerita who acted as godmother at the launching of the F-111 Bonifaz frigate, the first unit in a modern series of combat ships for the Navy, built at the Navantia shipyards in Ferrol, now it will be her daughter-in-law who will receive this honor. Queen Sofía will christen the second unit, which bears the name F-112 Roger de Lauria.
The launching of the frigate will take place on the 27th at 16:44 hours. The exact timing of this moment is that the event will occur at high tide, as is customary in this type of ceremony. These next-generation naval vessels specializing in anti-submarine warfare are tasked with replacing the Santa María class frigates (F-80) starting this year.
This will be the queen Letizia’s second visit to the Ferrol shipyards. The first was in 2008, when she was still Princess of Asturias. Then she accompanied Prince Felipe and her in-laws, the kings Juan Carlos and Sofía, at the sea baptism of the largest warship in the history of the Spanish fleet, the Juan Carlos I.
Why do royals christen ships?
The involvement of royals in the christening of military ships began to take shape officially in England from 1610. During the Tudor era, the launches of military ships were grand national celebrations presided over by a representative of the king or a bishop. But the first royal sponsorship occurred in 1610, when Prince Henry Stuart, son of King James I, presided over the christening of the great warship Prince Royal.
The Princess Leonor, on the Juan Sebastián Elcano.
Back then, the ceremony consisted of the royal in question sitting in a luxurious chair at the stern of the ship, drinking wine from a large silver cup, naming the vessel, pouring a few drops on the deck, and then throwing the precious cup of gold or silver into the sea as an offering. By the end of the seventeenth century, the Royal Navy decided to end that wastefulness and began breaking a bottle of wine or champagne against the hull. By the way: if the bottle is not broken, sailors regard it as a very bad omen.
The definitive milestone that forever linked the religious, military, and royal liturgy as we know it today occurred in 1875. It was when Princess Alexandra of Denmark, wife of the future King Edward VII of England, christened the battleship HMS Alexandra. Now Queen Letizia will do likewise with a military ship, after she in 2011 served as godmother of the Spanish sailing vessel Telefónica for the Volvo Ocean Race.
Princess Leonor, godmother of a submarine
The heir to the throne of Spain has already had the honor of being godmother to a military vessel. In April 2021 she presided over the launching ceremony of the submarine S-81 Isaac Peral at the Navantia shipyard in Cartagena (Murcia). After successfully completing its test program, the high-tech sub was formally transferred to the Spanish Navy in a military ceremony presided once again by the Royal Family.
And although she is not her official godmother in the traditional sense of a christening, Princess Leonor is closely linked to the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano. The eldest daughter of Felipe and Letizia sailed for several months on this ship as a midshipman in training during its 97th training cruise, reviving the tradition of her father and grandfather.
