The exiled former king Juan Carlos was the first Spanish king to make a state visit to China, in 1978.

His last state visit to China was in 2007, when he met ex-Chinese president Hu Jintao.

Felipe, 57, has visited China on other occasions, including for the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008.

Xi got his own grand welcome in Spain in 2018 and on Wednesday called Felipe a "good friend of the Chinese people".

The monarch added that a "relationship of trust has been forged" between the two countries, which this week reach their 20th anniversary of establishing high-level bilateral ties.

Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia arrived in a limousine to the capital's stately Great Hall of the People where they met Xi, accompanied by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and commerce minister Wang Wentao.

China is Spain's largest trading partner in Asia and its fourth largest globally, according to data from the Spanish Royal Household.