It is difficult to remember a Spanish series with such a powerful and comical beginning. The King of Spain, just before the start of the Copa del Rey final, waits in front of the mirror in the toilets of the Metropolitan Stadium. Locked in one of the toilets is his daughter, Princess Pilar, who refuses to appear in the box. She does not want to be whistled by the fans of the rival teams. The King reassures her by promising that the television will lower the sound in the stadium and turn up the volume of the Spanish anthem and reminds her that everything could be worse. And the princess, amazed, asks him: "I think two fucking Catalan teams?"The rivals turn out to be Barça and Girona. Later, a close-up on television will allow us to read the lips of the princess as she endures the downpour. And all this before the opening credits.
This is how it begins His Majesty, the series by Borja Cobeaga and Diego San José, creators ofEight Basque surnames. There are seven thirty-minute chapters on the Prime Video platform that parody the Spanish monarchy. The story has some elements in common with the real royal house. King Alfonso XIV (Pablo Derqui) must leave Spain in a hurry after it has been discovered that he has a fortune in a tax haven. Princess Pilar (Anna Castillo) will become the acting representative of the Crown. It is a comedy that does not intend, in any case, to resemble a The Crown Spanish style. It is actually a satire on the hidden face of the power dynamics of the monarchy. Princess Pilar would be thealter ego by Victoria Frederica de Marichalar. An uneducated, frivolous girl with a dissipated life, who has grown up in an environment where influence peddling, corruption and impunity are common practices of her father.But we can get rid of the Constitutional Court judges with a WhatsApp group!"she exclaims indignantly when she sees that her father has to flee from justice in a hurry instead of the Supreme Court sweeping the accusation under the carpet. The series has rhythm, good dialogue, good performances, and is skillful in building conflicts. It knows how to play with a humor that does not seek the heartbreaking gag but rather has one.
His Majesty It takes us behind the scenes of the current monarchy and reveals its impunity and obscenity. It is also a portrait of this new generation of useless successors, the kings of the trendy clubs in Madrid, where they celebrate patriotic parties with the techno version of the Spanish anthem. It is a scathing parody (although certainly very naive regarding reality) that shows the decadence of the institution and the ability to cover up the dirty laundry of its representatives. Towards the end they try to seek empathy with the protagonist, but, nevertheless, they come to tell us that the successors are not better than the emeritus, but that they only appear to be, because the structure is already very rotten and has its inertia.
