Under the patronage of Edward VII both as king, and earlier as Prince of Wales, Cowes Week became one of the most glittering events of the social calendar in the years preceding the Great War. Especially when Edward was also Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron, foreigh monarchs were frequently invited to join him for the Week's festivities and, in 1906, it was the turn of King Alphonso XIII of Spain. Assembled with their masters were the British royal yatchs Victoria & Albert III and Osborne, chaperoned by the battleship H.M.S. Renown, together with the Spanish royal yacht Giralda accompanied by her cruisers Princesa de Asturias, 6,888 tons, and Estramadura, 2,030 tons, both practically new vessels chosen with care to impress the cosmopolitan crowds assembled for the regatta.