Number Six has said that it was not aware that two uniformed Spanish Civil Guards would be attending the Queen’s Birthday Parade at Casemates or the Queen’s Garden Party at The Convent yesterday.

Indeed, the Government says that it was not even aware that they had been invited nor that such invitations had been issued in the past.

The Government says that it should be made clear that neither the Parade nor the Garden Party are organised by the Government and that invitations to these events are not issued from Convent Place. The Government is not consulted on who is being invited or who accepts invitations.

The  Government adds that the adverse reaction in Gibraltar at the timing of these invitations, which have resulted in the attendance in uniform of Civil Guard officers at a time when the Spanish central government in Madrid has been conducting a hostile campaign against Gibraltar, often involving the Civil Guard itself, is “entirely understandable.”