Visit by Spain’s royal couple foreseen for St. Augustine’s 450th birthday

princess-letizia-prince-felipe-spain

St. Augustine’s 450th commemoration this fall may include a visit from Felipe IV and Letizia, the King and Queen of Spain. Not only that, the organizers are seeking a papal designation for the event. 

“We are celebrating the Spanish founding of America,” said Dana Ste. Claire, director of the 450th Commemoration. “The King and Queen of Spain are very much aware of this anniversary.  We had a delegation go over to Marbella last year. While no one has confirmed, with the US-Spain Council International Summit coming up, we are anticipating a visit.”

St. Claire says the Vatican may play a role in the 450th as well. “The pope may very well recognize the significance of St. Augustine as the site of the first Catholic Parish Mass in the continental United States. We are hoping for that,” he said during an appearance on WJCT’s First Coast Connect

This September, St. Augustine will commemorate 450 years as the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States. However, the long road toward the big celebration in the Nation’s Oldest City has been plagued with concerns about the event’s finances and planning.

“My hope is that all of the concerns have been addressed. What we are focused on now is hosting the commemoration, building St. Augustine’s destination awareness on a world stage, and growing economic development through sustainable tourism,”  Ste. Claire said.

“We’re celebrating the multicultural founding of America. It happened here in 1565, not in Jamestown in 1607 or with the Pilgrims in 1620. It’s a big story and we want the rest of the world to understand it.”

Melissa Ross

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].



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