Wearing black face masks, Spanish and foreign dignitaries paid tribute to Spain's victims of the coronavirus pandemic and the health workers combating it in a ceremony on Thursday led by King Felipe VI.

Many of the roughly 400 guests outside the Royal Palace in Madrid, including relatives of some of the more than 28,000 victims of the disease in one of Europe's worst-hit countries, laid white roses on a black pedestal surrounding a bowl of burning coals.

"It will also not ease the sadness of their absence, but it will do justice do their lives and their contribution to our society, their memory." King Felipe VI said during a speech at the ceremony.

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