BENEATH paintings of semi-naked cherubs drifting heavenwards and Jesus performing a miracle with loaves and fishes, the Queen of Spain and the Prince of Wales yesterday formally opened the Spanish Gallery in the centre of Bishop Auckland.

Queen Letizia and Prince Charles parted gold and red curtains to reveal a plaque recording their visit, but the man who has performed a modern miracle with an ex-mining town and £200m was not present – philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer has Covid, and so missed the double royal seal of approval for his efforts.

“This really is his baby and it is such a shame,” said his wife, Jane, who showed the royal visitors around. “He was really sad when he was taken ill at the weekend.”

However, Otheay Wilson, eight, and Kadie Searle, 11, from St Wilfrid’s school stepped into the breach and presented the royal visitors with souvenirs of their visit.

It was Prince Charles’ second visit to the town as he came in 2012 when Mr Ruffer was starting to use Auckland Castle’s 13 supersize paintings by Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran to create a tourist-led regeneration scheme. Yesterday, the prince arrived ahead of the queen and spent 25 minutes privately in St Peter’s Chapel in the castle.

“Prince Charles has been very supportive of our work here,” said Mrs Ruffer. “He’s very interested in heritage and art, and in giving opportunities to young people. This is very like his work at Dumfries House, where he’s putting a huge estate to work for the local community.”

Queen Letizia, 49, who is the wife of King Felipe VI, flew into RAF Leeming specially for the visit and was then driven to Bishop Auckland in an Audi A6 with the registration plate SPA IN. She was greeted at the Auckland Castle portico by the prince with kisses to her cheeks and hands – they jointly opened a Spanish art exhibition in London a couple of years ago.

The royals then viewed the Zurbaran paintings, which were created in the 1640s in Seville and show Jacob and His 12 Sons. They were bought by Bishop Richard Trevor in 1756, and he specially extended the castle’s Long Dining Room to accommodate them so his guests would understand their message of unity and tolerance as they dined beneath the paintings’ gaze.

From the castle, the queen and the prince went the short distance to the Spanish Gallery, which is in a converted bank in the Market Place. The gallery contains religious works by El Greco, Velazquez, Murillo and Zurbaran from the 16th and 17th Centuries – a period known as “the Golden Age” of Spanish art.

“The queen said that to see so much Spanish art in one place is very unusual, and that it creates a relationship, a bond, between Britain and Spain,” Mrs Ruffer told the many Spanish journalists who had made the trip to the north.

For all the tribulations of King Juan Carlos, Felipe’s father who was forced to abdicate in 2014, Felipe and Letizia – a former journalist who anchored Spain’s most popular TV evening news programme before her marriage in 2004 – are regarded as popular figures in their homeland. One of the queen’s interests is raising the profile of Spanish culture worldwide, and so the journalists thought she would have been keen to come to Bishop Auckland.

“You would not expect to find this in a small town in the north of England,” said Rafael de Miguel of El Pais, which is one of Spain’s most respected newspapers. “It is such a surprise. It is an amazing collection.”

Before unveiling the plaque, the royals were addressed by Bob Bigley, the chair of The Auckland Project trustees, who had one of Mr Ruffer’s anecdotes for them.

“When Lord Rothschild (a banker, who has assisted the project) was asked by Queen Sofia (the former queen of Spain) to name his favourite place in Spain, he said it was a small town in the north of England which is truly part of Spain,” said Mr Bigley.

“The gallery has the spirit of Spain combined with the soil of England to create something bigger than both our nations.”

The royals then signed the visitors’ book beneath two amazing images by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo: Cherubs Scattering Flowers and The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.

Although the visit was not advertised for security reasons, a large, cheering crowd, bolstered by children from St Wilfrid’s and Prince Bishops primary schools, had gathered outside the gallery, waving Spanish and British flags.

“I got that close to the Queen of Spain,” said one woman, indicating a gap of about a metre. “What a great dress, and her earrings – fabulous earrings. Fabulous earrings.”

Auckland Project volunteer Ann Turnbull, from Crook, shook Queen Letizia’s hand.

“I thought she was wonderful, very classy, beautiful,” she said. “I said ‘welcome to Bishop Auckland’ and she said she thought the gallery was wonderful.”