La Mareta palace, in Costa Teguise, was a gift from King Hussein of Jordan to Juan Carlos I. Since 2005, no member of the Royal Family has used it, and today it is an official residence managed by the Ministry of Tourism.
La Mareta, located in Costa Teguise (Lanzarote), is one of the lesser-known official residences of the Spanish Crown. Built at the behest of King Hussein of Jordan, who fell in love with the island, the Hashemite monarch barely enjoyed it and in 1989 gifted it to King Juan Carlos I. Since then, its use by the Royal Family has been very limited, and it has been two decades since any member of the royal family visited.
La Mareta occupies about 2,000 square meters distributed in a main building and several bungalows. Its design is the work of architect Fernando Higueras and artist César Manrique, who created simple, white architecture integrated into the volcanic landscape, away from the classical style of other royal palaces. The estate has direct access to the sea, two swimming pools, a helipad, a library, and landscaped areas, designed to discreetly host heads of state and international authorities.
La Mareta has hosted personalities such as Helmut Kohl, Mikhail Gorbachev, and several Spanish Prime Ministers, including José María Aznar, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and Pedro Sánchez, who have used it for their holidays. However, the Royal Family's relationship with the palace was brief: Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía stayed there in 1993, and on New Year's Eve 1999, they experienced one of the saddest episodes, with the passing of Doña María de las Mercedes de Borbón on January 2, 2000.
After that tragedy, royal presence at La Mareta drastically reduced. The then-princes Felipe and Letizia returned with Princess Leonor in December 2005, but since then there is no record of any member of the Royal Family using it again. Today, ceded to the Ministry of Tourism since 2015, La Mareta is not listed among the seven Royal Palaces managed by Patrimonio Nacional: it is an official residence, not a visitable palace, which explains why it remains one of the most unknown — and historically rich — corners of the Spanish Royal House.
For the residents of Lanzarote, La Mareta is an emblematic but inaccessible place. The estate remains closed to the public and is only opened for official events or visits from authorities. Its future remains uncertain, although the Canary Islands Government has shown interest in partially opening it to cultural tourism. For now, the palace continues to be a silent witness to the recent history of the Crown in the Canary Islands.
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