Spain’s Masked King Salutes Armed Forces in their Covid-19 Battle

KING FELPE VI dropped in today (April 3) at the operational centre in the Madrid area that is coordinating the work of Spain’s armed forces during the State of Alarm.

The monarch visited Retamares base in Pozuelo de Alarcón, and he donned army clothing in addition to wearing a protective mask and gloves.

The Armed Forces have named Operation Balmis as their deployment to various parts of Spain to reinforce the home confinement rules

Francisco Javier de Balmis y Berenguer was a military doctor born in Alicante in 1753, and 17 years later began his medical studies at the Alicante Royal Military Hospital.

He was famous for bringing the smallpox vaccine to the Spanish empire at the start of the 19^th century, and is credited in some quarters as saving millions of lives.

The name then for the Armed Forces work therefore seems appropriate in honour of Balmis, and King Felipe was given a series of briefings about what was happening to protect citizens across Spain in the current crisis.