MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Princess Anne in Gibraltar amid Spanish complaints

After her arrival The Princess inspected a Tri-Service Guard of Honour

HRH Princess Anne arrived in Gibraltar Wednesday on an official visit to the disputed territory that has stirred up old tensions between Britain and Spain. The Spanish government made an official complaint to British authorities ahead of the royal visit describing it as “inopportune” and an affront to Spain, which contests London's rule over the strategic territory.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 but Spain still claims sovereignty over the territory known as the Rock, which lies at the southern foot of Spain at the western entrance to the Mediterranean.

Angel Lossada, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, telephoned Denise Holt, the British Ambassador in Spain, to express “annoyance” ahead of the three-day visit.

A Spanish Foreign Office spokesman said: “The Secretary of State told the ambassador the visit was inopportune with regard to the sensibilities of the Spanish people.”

Other Spanish politicians are infuriated over the Princess Royal visit to the British colony, the second in five years.

Jose Ignacio Landaluce, a deputy who sits on the Spanish parliament's foreign affairs commission, said: “The visit of a member of the British Royal Family to Gibraltar shows their total support for the sovereignty of this British colony.

”This is something to which we are totally against. It is an affront to Spain.“

Mr Landaluce, from the conservative Popular Party, said the visit was unfortunate at a time when relations between Spain, Britain and Gibraltar had improved in recent years.

Jose Carracao, a Socialist senator who sits on the foreign affairs commission in the Spanish parliament's upper house, said: ”This visit is annoying and is bound to prove controversial in a territory of doubtful sovereignty.”

The Princess Royal will open a military clinic bearing her name on Thursday, an act which will further offend Spanish sensibilities because it is located on the isthmus that links the Rock to mainland Spain. Spain claims the stretch of land does not belong to the British Crown because it was not included in the Treaty of Utrecht.