Video: Spain’s two queens caught in ‘tense’ stand-off

Apparent tensions within Spain’s royal family have been thrust into the spotlight after a video camera caught a strained moment between Queen Letizia and her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia.

As the royal family left church after an Easter Sunday service in Mallorca, the 79-year-old Queen Mother put her arms around her granddaughters, the princesses Elenor and Sofia, seemingly to pose for waiting photographers.

However, Queen Letizia - the wife of King Felipe and mother to the princesses - then appeared to block the shot, leading to a terse exchange between the pair. A concerned-looking King Felipe then intervened, taking his wife by the arm.

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El tenso momento entre Letizia y doña Sofía por una foto con sus nietas - YouTube

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Moments later, the family posed together for photographs, royal countenances firmly in place.

Friction with the in-laws is hardly an uncommon feature of married life, but the high-profile nature of the participants set tongues chattering.

The footage was widely discussed in the Spanish media, with leading newspaper El Pais “calling the scene ‘tense’ and the Diario de Mallorca describing it as “uncomfortable”, The New York Times reports.

Other European royals even weighed in on Twitter. Princess Marie Chantal of Greece, who is married to King Felipe's cousin, Crown Prince Pavlos, tweeted that the snub had shown Queen Letizia’s “true colours”.

Seeking to explain the encounter, the Spanish press claims that relations between the two queens have been strained in recent years.

The queen mother “had taken Letizia Ortiz under her wing when her engagement to then-Prince Felipe was announced” in 2003, says the BBC, quoting from El Pais, but the relationship soured after the birth of the couple’s daughters.

Queen Sofia reportedly felt excluded from the family after the birth of her granddaughters, particularly in comparison to Queen Letizia’s mother, Paloma Rocasolano.