[Noozhawk’s note: One in a series. Click here for previous columns.]

In previous columns about the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, I’ve emphasized the international connections of the El Presidio de Santa Bárbara project with Mexico and Spain.

The Spanish connection came front and center in 1995 when we at the trust were notified through one of our board members, Vie Obern, that the Spanish consulate in Los Angeles was hosting the heir to the Spanish throne, Felipe, Prince of Asturias, and now King Felipe VI, who was touring the United States after finishing his graduate degree at Georgetown University.

Could we set up a tour of the presidio for him? Of course, we answered with an emphatic “yes!”

Obern was to be out of town during the royal visit, so I asked for assistance from Carmen Farreras, who had moved to Santa Barbara several years earlier from Barcelona with her husband. She was connected to the consulate through commercial activities promoting Catalan businesses in California. She also had been involved with SBTHP organizing several Catalan events at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara State Historic Park and an exhibition at Casa de la Guerra.

We decided to go all out and proposed that the prince spend several hours with us for a tour of the presidio and Casa de la Guerra, a ceremony at the statue of Charles III and a luncheon in the Presidio Chapel. Farreras was instrumental as our liaison with the consulate, convincing Spanish officials to spend most of their time at the presidio. There were also stops planned at UC Santa Barbara and at the Santa Bárbara Mission Archive-Library.

I immediately began planning the event, contacting the nearby Wine Cask restaurant to cater the luncheon in the chapel for around 90 guests. Northern Trust agreed to underwrite the meal and then-Assemblyman Brooks Firestone, R-Los Olivos, donated wine.

I also contacted our Soldados del Presidio de Santa Bárbara about participating in the event. I realized just how valuable the city’s colonial militia were to the park interpretation as we put together a program that included a special musket and canon firing to welcome the prince.

Don Felipe de Borbón y Grecia, Prince of Asturias, arrived around noon June 8, 1995. Mayor Harriet Miller walked down to the car with soldado Jim Martinez to escort the prince to the chapel.

Soldado del Presidio de Santa Bárbara and presidio descendant Jim Martinez invites Prince Felipe to become an honorary comandante of the Santa Barbara Presidio. “I accept, as long as it is honorary,” the prince joked. (Bill Dewey photo)

I wrote the following in a publication afterward: “The prince is tall — 6-foot-5 — slim, elegant, animated and speaks perfect English. His knowledge of our history was impressive, as was his courtesy and genuine interest in the hundreds of honored guests who were to shake his hand during the next few hours.”

One of my favorite moments was when the soldados gathered at the chapel entrance and presented a proclamation to the prince, with Jim Martinez asking him to serve as “honorary comandante of the Santa Barbara presidio.” The prince answered: “I accept, as long as it is honorary.”

Inside the chapel, an exquisite lunch was served, followed by speeches from myself, Farreras and the prince, and then a presentation of gifts and a city proclamation. I noticed a buzz among the Spaniards regarding the presence of Firestone and our serving his wine. Someone told me that Firestone was a familiar name in Spain because of the popularity of Firestone tires.

After lunch we proceeded to a ceremony outside at the statue of Charles III, with commentary by SBTHP board member Paul Mills, who had been instrumental in having the statue gifted to Santa Barbara by the then king of Spain, Juan Carlos I, Felipe’s father.

At the statue, the prince greeted several dozen presidio descendants. Interestingly, the statue is on the site of the outdoor cemetery where presidio soldiers and their families are buried.

Our delegation next walked through the Presidio Northeast Corner project that was under construction at the time, then continued to Casa de la Guerra and El Paseo. I showed the prince El Paseo’s Street in Spain, where the plaque commemorating his visit would be installed.

Inside Casa de la Guerra, which was still being restored, we examined an exhibit of the De la Guerras. The prince was very familiar with the De la Guerra origins in Cantabria, an autonomous community adjacent to the province of Asturias.

In a return visit to Santa Barbara in 2013, Prince Felipe speaks at reception for the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation at the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara. The next year, he would be crowned king of Spain. (Curt Weisman photo)

All told, the prince’s visit was extraordinary, lasting more than three hours. I later heard from Farreras that, after the stops at UCSB and the Santa Barbara Mission, she and the prince and a few others left the fanfare behind that evening and strolled down State Street, stopping in various stores. I liked that after all the pomp and circumstance, it was time for a little casual fun in Santa Barbara.

The story doesn’t end there, however, as the prince was to make a return visit in 2013. By then he was married to his wife, now Queen Letizia, and had two young daughters.

In the intervening years, the Santa Barbara Presidio also had established itself as a place to visit whenever Spanish officials were in Southern California. Among those I provided tours for was Mariano Rajoy, who later served as Spain’s prime minister from 2011 to 2018.

The prince’s 2013 visit to Santa Barbara was in connection with a conference of the United States-Spain Council held at what is now The Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Goleta. The council consists primarily of Spanish and American business executives promoting commercial relations and developing a young leaders program of mutual understanding between the two nations.

The prince carved out some time for SBTHP, holding a special reception for our members at the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara. Among the guests were Spain’s ambassador to the United States, Ramón Gil-Casares; Foreign Minister José García-Margallo y Marfil; and Enrique Ruiz Molero, then the consul general in Los Angeles.

It was a splendid evening. Mayor Helene Schneider made some remarks and a city staffer showed the prince the decoration of the Order of Charles III, Santa Barbara being the only U.S. city to have received the award. The late UCSB professor Giorgio Perissinotto presented the prince with publications of SBTHP, and I made a few remarks as did Jim Martinez.

The evening was topped off with Mike Hardwick dressed in his Spanish uniform and portraying Spanish California Gov. Felipe de Neve. The interlude included some enjoyable repartee between the prince and Hardwick about the governor looking pretty good for his age.

Several months after the reception, King Juan Carlos abdicated and the prince was crowned his successor as King Felipe VI on June 19, 2014. I will have something to add of a personal note regarding King Felipe VI in a future column.

— Jarrell Jackman is the former executive director of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. After receiving his Ph.D. in history from UC Santa Barbara, he taught for six years in Europe and Washington, D.C. In 2015, he was honored as a knight of the Royal Order of Isabel la Católica by Spain’s King Felipe VI and was named an honorary state park ranger by the California State Park Rangers Association in 2016. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.

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