Queen Letizia of Spain paid a visit to Portugal amid protests on Friday.
Queen Letizia was on a solo visit to Portugal, her second overseas trip without her husband King Felipe VI since she was crowned Queen.
Protests took place around 200 meters away from the Portuguese Association of Rare Diseases, which Letizia was visiting in Moita, Portugal, according to local media.
However, she managed to avoid the protesting crowds by taking an alternative route.
The protesters held banners calling for the government to step down, claiming the 2015 state budget will do nothing for the national health service.
"We very much respect the Association of Rare Diseases and their work, but we are here to send a message to the government. The National Health Service needs to be safeguarded, as do the rights of all employees," Luis Leitao, from the Union of Syndicates of Setubal told Portugal's Lusa News Agency.
Letizia defended the importance of investigation for rare diseases at the closing ceremony of the second Ibero-American congress of rare diseases, which took place at the Casa dos Marcos in Moita, Portugal.
"Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to return to Portugal, a place where I feel at home," she said in Portuguese. "It wasn't long ago I was here with the king, a visit that clearly shows proximity between both countries, Spain and Portugal."
She thanked the presidents of the Spanish and Portuguese associations for rare diseases and recognized difficulties faced by people with rare diseases and their families.
"Everyone knows how it is difficult ... to find the right diagnostic, to have access to treatments to stop their advancement and to mitigate the symptoms. Everyone knows that they are incapacitating illnesses which create inequalities," she said.
She added that support by institutions and investigation were "fundamental," adding that in Ibero-American countries there are around 35 million people with pathologies of low prevalence.
And she was applauded by the audience when she thanked Maria Cavaco Silva, the Portuguese president's wife, saying she was amongst the strongest voices for this cause.
Queen Letizia had a private lunch with Maria Cavaco Silva and attended an exhibition at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum about rare diseases.
Letizia last week travelled to Vienna, Austria, her first solo trip since she became Spain's queen.