Princess of Wales BEST EVER

By Dilip Kuner

olina Herrera has stepped in at short notice to replace Basque designers Sophie et Voila, with the July 8 wedding date looming.

The story of Falco’s nuptials has kept the social pages of the Spanish press busy from the moment she made the engagement announcement on Instagram last autumn. She declared that she was going to marry businessman Iñigo Onieva (pictured), but within days a video emerged of him canoodling with a New York model at a music festival in the US. Despite his initial claims the image was from 2019, before he knew 41-year-old Falco, TV sleuths had identified the festival as being held just a few weeks previously. The TV gossip shows went into meltdown and the saga was barely off the screens, with Falco apparently bringing her relationship with Onieva to an end when she removed the engagement post from Instagram But after Onieva apologised, the couple reunited on a Christmas trip to the Arctic, and now a lavish three-day celebration is planned.

THE man considered as the world’s greatest-ever marathon runner - Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge - has run off with the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for sport. It is one of eight €50,000 prizes handed out for outstanding work in fields like the arts, communication, scientific research and literature which will be presented at a ceremony in Oviedo every September. Kipchoge, 38, who won Olympic gold in the marathon in 2016 and 2020 and was the world 5,000 metres champion in 2003 ‘is considered a legend in world athletics and the best marathon runner of all time’, said the Princess of Asturias foundation.

SPANISH singing superstar Rosalia has slammed a fellow artist’s attempts to attract attention after he shared a faked topless photo of her on Instagram Far from apologising for his actions, Reyes instead celebrated becoming a ‘trending topic’ on social media.

Reyes, 26 and from Sevilla, also took the opportunity to plug his next record. “Wait for my upcoming single, it’s called Rosalia ,” he wrote via social media.

Catalan warbler, Rosalia, 30, who shot to international fame thanks to singles such as Saoko and Chicken Teriyaki soon responded to the actions of Reyes.

“Looking for clout by disrespecting and sexualising someone is a kind of violence and is disgusting but doing it to get… plays [of a record] is pitiful,” she said via Twitter Reyes has since deleted all his posts about Rosalia.

Inspirational run

A 65-year-old man with Parkinson’s has been hailed as ‘an inspiration’ by broadcaster Jeremy Paxman for a 970-mile run from London to Barcelona.

Neil Russell, a former advertising executive from Gloucestershire, began his epic run last week and plans to complete it at the end of June.

He aims to finish in time for the opening of the World Parkinson’s Congress in the Catalan city.

Paxman - younger brother of former UK Ambassador to Spain Giles Paxman - was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2021.

He said: “People like Neil are an inspiration and he shows that having Parkinson’s need not be a barrier in life.”

Water woe

RESERVOIR levels in Andalucia continue to fall despite heavy rainfall around the region.

They sit at 27.2% of storage capacity, or 0.4% below a week ago, while they are at half the level of a decade ago when they sat at 64% in late May.

Malaga’s levels lie at 33% (down 0.3% on last week) with key reservoirs, such as Lake Vinuela (10% full) remaining at a critical level.

Sevilla’s reservoirs are 29% full, Jaen’s at 25%, Granada’s at 27% and Cordoba’s at 18%.

The worst affected are in Almeria where levels sit at just over 11%.

The region is currently suffering the worst drought for 30 years, with Junta Environment minister Ramon Fernandez describing the situation as ‘dramatic’ for the economy, employment, and residents.

Spain’s weather agency (AEMET) said the region needs ‘at least one more month of rainfall’ to reverse the drought crisis.

The current unstable weather is set to bring heavy rainfall for the next week or two.

Snow drop

SPAIN’S Sierra Nevada ironically received its biggest snowfall a month after the ski season ended.

The good news is that the snow will now melt slowly ensuring the rivers around Granada and, in particular, the Alpujarras have water all summer.