Prince Charles appears in great spirits as he meets with framers before opening an Auction Mart

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The Prince of Wales welcomed Queen Letizia of Spain with a very gallant greeting earlier today during a rare joint public engagement in County Durham.

Prince Charles 73, was snapped in a jovial mood as he greeted the Spanish royal, 49, with a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze of the hand at Auckland Castle in Bishop Auckland this morning.

The mother-of-two, who was among the foreign royals who attended Prince Philip’s memorial service last week, cut an elegant figure during the appearance, donning a raspberry dress and wrapping up against the cool spring chill in a black coat. 

Meanwhile Charles donned a light grey suit for the outing, which he paired with a burgundy tie and matching pocket square. 

The pair are set to open the exhibition ‘Zurbarán: the twelve tribes of Israel: Jacob and his sons’ at the Spanish Gallery of the castle during the visit. 

The Spanish Gallery at the castle is the home of the biggest assortment of work Spanish works from the Golden Age in the UK. 

Prince Charles has met with Queen Letizia on a number of occasions in the past, including in 2017 when he hosted a meeting with her and her husband King Felipe at Clarence House. 

Meanwhile in 2019, the Queen of Spain and Prince of Wales jointly celebrated the opening of a National Gallery exhibition of works by a Spanish impressionist, in an evening hailed as a moment of European unity. 

The Prince of Wales is a Patron of the National Gallery and they both previewed the new exhibition by the late Spanish impressionist, Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida.  

Queen Letizia and the Prince, who spoke warmly throughout the hour-long visit, were shown dozens of works by Sorolla, described as the ‘master of light’ in a glamorous evening at the London gallery.

While the Spanish royal attended Prince Philip’s memorial service last week, it is unknown if she spoke with Prince Charles during the event.   

Earlier in the day, Charles was in great spirits as he chatted to farmers on a visit to Darlington to officially open an auction mart. 

Charles looked relaxed as he joked and laughed with local farmers in the quaint cafe. with a group of people while enjoying tea and cake at Dot’s Cafe in County Durham. 

The pictures are the latest sign the Prince of Wales is moving on following the fall-out from his brother Prince Andrew’s appearance at Prince Philip’s memorial last week.  

The Duke of York, 62, took centre stage at Westminster Abbey’s Thanksgioving of Life service escorting the Queen to the front row leaving the royal family ‘dismayed’.

It had been expected that the Dean of Westminster would take the Queen to her seat, with Andrew behind. But the shamed royal instead walked her right in front of live cameras.  

The prince has been forced to step back from public life over his association with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Earlier this month he paid millions to Virginia Giuffre, who had accused him of rape. He has consistently denied her allegations.  

Insiders have claimed he’ll use the opportunity as a springboard to support his mother at a Platinum Jubilee service at St Paul’s Cathedral in June and is not bothered if ‘public opinion is against him’,

However, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams suggested there is ‘no way’ William and Charles will accept Andrew’s part in the celebrations.

He told the Mirror: ‘In terms of royal events, I don’t expect we will see Prince Andrew appear in the near future – if ever again.

‘He won’t play any kind of a role in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, of that I think we can be quite sure.

‘Prince Charles and William will be totally apposed to it, it’s a non-starter.’  

A family source said that senior royals – including Prince Charles and the Duke of Cambridge – were ‘dismayed’ by events and that Andrew’s decision to put himself ‘front and centre’ of the service had caused ‘consternation’,

However, experts have also suggested walk with Andrew was the Queen’s way of signalling it’s ‘ok’ and that Her Majesty is ‘very clearly stating that he has a role at family occasions’.  

Vanity Fair royal editor Katie Nichol said the Queen ‘deliberately chose to have Andrew play such a prominent role’ to show the public ‘she still makes decisions’.

‘This was the Queen’s way of showing two things; one, that the buck stops with her, and she makes the decisions, and secondly that she believes he’s innocent. She made the point very, very clearly.

‘But Charles and William were very aware of the perspective, of the optics of this.’