The Beautiful Spanish Queens of the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife [PHOTOS]

The beautiful Spanish queens of the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife wear some of the world's most elaborate costumes every year for the annual Carnival Queen election gala. See photos of all the sexy women and their elaborate costumes in the 2012 Carnival in this fun slideshow.

The annual Carnival Queen election gala at Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife is one of the world's most stunning annual celebrations, as the country's beauties all descend on the Canary Islands for a day of celebration, fashion and life. The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the second-largest Carnival celebration in the world and the most significant and largest in Spain.

The 2012 Carnival Queen election gala was Wednesday, and Carmen Gil was named this year's Carnival Queen. She wore a creation called Imperio made by designer Santi Castro as she strutted her stuff in the festival, during which she was truly the belle of the ball.

People flock to the Canary Islands every year for the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where one of the highlights of the festivities is the Carnival Queen election gala. The island, located 210 miles off the coast of northwestern Africa, is only 58 square miles, so the Carnival there brings more tourists than any other event during the rest of the year.

The festivities starts on the Friday before Carnival, and will continue nightly until Ash Wednesday (Feb. 22 this year), when the people of Santa Cruz de Tenerife will celebrate the entierro de la sardina (or the burial of the sardine), which is the end of the festivities until the next weekend (the weekend of the piñata), which is the true end of the Carnival fun.

See photos of all the beautiful Spanish queens of the 2012 Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in this fun picture slideshow.