On 14 March 2021 Her Majesty's Ambassador to Spain, Mr Hugh Elliott and his wife Mrs Toñi Elliott, visited the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory (ORM). They toured the Isaac Newton (INT) and the William Herschel Telescopes (WHT), and the Gran Telescopio Canarias, and heard about the latest instrumental developments and the international partnerships underpinning them. They also saw the domes of some of the UK's university-led telescopes at the ORM, including the Liverpool telescope, and SuperWASP and GOTO from Warwick University.

In the evening, they met the astronomers observing in the INT, and visited the WHT control room, where they learnt how to use the telescope and obtained images of two nebulae from the Messier catalogue.

HM Ambassador Hugh Elliott, Mrs Elliott, Marc Balcells (ING Director) and Chris Benn (ING Head of Astronomy) in front of the INT. Credit: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes [PNG].

Demonstration of spectroscopy (of the fluorescent lights in the INT) using a difraction grating from the INT's IDS spectrograph. Credit: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes [PNG].

Visiting the INT control room. Credit: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes [PNG].

Introduction to ING, in the visitors' corridor in the WHT. Credit: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes [PNG].

HM Ambassador Hugh Elliot at the WHT. Credit: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes [PNG].

Introduction to the observing system in the WHT control room. Credit: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes [PNG].

Visiting the Gran Telescopio Canarias. Credit: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes [PNG].

Enjoying the view from the island's summit - the Roque de Los Muchachos peak. Credit: Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes [PNG].