The Spanish Para-Military salute our Queen and Our British Flag and Our Royal Gibraltar Regiment on Queen's Birthday Parade

The Spanish Para-Military salute our Queen and Our British Flag and Our Royal Gibraltar Regiment on Queen's Birthday Parade

Thanks to our Governor Sir James Dutton and the FCO

It was a shock initially to see these 2 Spanish Guardia Civil in our Queen's Birthday Parade in their full uniform amongst the VIP guests.

However, it was a pleasure to witness them Saluting our British Queen, British Flag and our Royal Gibraltar Regiment in our British Land!

This has not happened for a very long time indeed. So perhaps Spain's attitude towards Gibraltar is finally changing? They are beginning to recognise that Gibraltar is British and under the British Crown!

What an awesome picture travelled throughout social media - although there were and still are mixed feelings of their presence - it seemed the Spanish activist were more against it!

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Remember that many years ago it was not unthinkable to see these Para Military in uniform

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So FCO confirm they always invite the Spanish Guardia Civils to the Queen's birthday parade. However, the debate went on social media as Government and FCO began to clarify who knew beforehand and who did not.

So much so that each made public press releases:

Governor and No6 at odds over Guardia Civil presence at Queen's Birthday Parade
GBC News

A clear rift has emerged between Number Six and the Convent regarding the attendance of two Guardia Civil Officers at yesterday’s Queen’s Birthday Parade at Casemates. Whilst the Office of the Governor has said it is delighted to welcome the officers as part of an effort to improve neighbourly relations, the Gibraltar Government says it wasn’t consulted on the invitation and believes the negative public reaction is understandable.

It raised eyebrows at Casemates, and caused a social media storm throughout the night. Two uniformed Guardia Civil Officers with their distinctive head-ware were among the official guests at the Queen’s Birthday parade – an unprecedented development. They were junior officers, one a Lieutenant and the other an Ensign. As the image raged across social networks, the Chief Minister, who was at the event, tweeted that his Government had nothing to do with the invitation.

The Convent has confirmed that officers from the Guardia Civil are invited regularly and have attended in previous years, though GBC understands they have done so in civilian clothing. The Governor says he’s delighted that the officers attended, and welcomed them as a positive step towards good neighbourly relations.

However Number Six Convent Place isn’t quite so welcoming. It says it hasn’t been consulted as to this invitation, has never been consulted in the past, and didn’t even know this was happening. In a statement, a spokesman stressed that all arrangements are made by the Convent and not the Government, It believes the adverse reaction in Gibraltar to this presence is entirely understandable given the hostile campaign in Madrid against Gibraltar, often involving the Guardia Civil.

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UNIFORMED GUARDIA CIVIL OFFICERS CAUGHT RGP BY SURPRISE
Chronicle

Police Commissioner Eddie Yome was unaware that two Guardia Civil officers planned to attend the Queen’s Birthday Parade in uniform, the Royal Gibraltar Police said yesterday.

In a statement, the force also said it had been ‘appropriate in the circumstances’ to offer the two Spanish officers transport after they turned up in uniform.
The RGP said Mr Yome knew that Guardia Civil officers were invited every year by both The Convent and Commander British Forces Gibraltar to attend the Queen’s Birthday Parade and garden party.

But it added: “The Commissioner was nevertheless unaware that the Guardia

Civil had accepted the invitation and would be attending this year’s event, let alone that they would do so in uniform.”

The RGP also explained its decision to offer transport to the two Spanish officers from the border to Casemates for the parade, and then to The Convent for the garden party.

“The decision to provide RGP transport for these officers to the venue was an operational decision made by the duty officer at the time with the sole purpose of preventing any possible incident involving these Spanish uniformed officers whilst en route to Casemates Square from the land frontier,” the RGP said.

“This decision was appropriate in the circumstances.”

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I believe if the FCO or the Governor thought it was going to cause an incident during the Queen's Parade - they under estimated how Proud we are to be British!

We the people of Gibraltar - of course we were shocked - but as always our Loyalty to Our Queen made us see the good that it was actually for Gibraltar!

I mean where else do you get Para Military Guardia Civil Guards from a country that claims a land that does not belong to them and salute the Queen and Flag and Army of that Country?

It was Great for many of us to see!

AMS