King Felipe VI yesterday landed at the "Macdonald-Cartier" international airport in Ottawa, beginning his first visit to Canada as monarch. A three-day visit with an economic, trade and cultural agenda - and a personal note rarely seen in diplomacy.

He was met by Transport Minister Steve McKinnon, Spanish ambassador Alfredo Martínez Serrano, Canadian chief of protocol Sébastien Carrier and Canadian ambassador to Spain Jeffrey Marder. After a brief welcome, they moved on to Rideau Hall, the residence of the Canadian Governor General - a meeting with Mary Simon and a dinner in his honour.

Today (day two) the king will be in Toronto. A business forum, a working lunch with companies, and a university event where he'll present the international poetry prize "Joan Margarit" to Margaret Atwood - by reputation one of the most famous Canadian writers and frequently mentioned for the Nobel.

But the most emotional moment will be tomorrow. Felipe returns to Lakefield College School in Ontario, where between 1984 and 1985 he lived as a boarding pupil. Then he was known as "Flip" (Flip) - the codename of the 16-year-old prince whose father had sent him to Canada for a year away from the Spanish press. Now, exactly 40 years later, he returns to the same school for the anniversary of his class.

Diplomacy and sentiment in the same package - a small lesson in how state visits are done when the foreign relations are basically all set, but something symbolic is needed to draw them closer. In the Balkans this kind of sentiment in diplomacy only shows up in obituaries. The Spanish know how to do the official with a bit more taste.