New Spanish comedies about the monarchy: irreverent or courtly?

At the beginning of the first episode of The short life, set in Spain in 1724, we see humble farmers giving one of their sows to envoys of Philip V. The son asks the father why he gave them the animal. The man replies that "thanks to the king, we have all this." The catacratic wreck of the house that collapses behind him ironically reinforces this statement. The short life is a Movistar+ production that aims to approach a period of history with a supposedly irreverent perspective. We enter the Spanish court of the 18th century, at an unusual time: when, ten years after the end of the War of Succession, Philip V (Javier Gutiérrez) abdicates in favor of his son Luis (Carlos Scholz), who is only sixteen years old. However, the young Bourbon ends up dying unexpectedly seven months after ascending the throne. Hence the title of a series that refers to both Monty Python and the Marie Antoinette

Philip V is presented to us as a man who is no longer in the mood to carry out his function, and who only keeps alive the desire to have sex. The son of the ephemeral reign is described as an innocent young man who needs initiation even to consummate the marriage with his even younger wife, Lluïsa d'Orleans (Alicia Armenteros). This vision is far from what history tells us about Louis I, who was in such a rut that he was "Fiery like his mother, lascivious like his father, hot like his stepmother and masturbatory like his pederastIn the series, as Franco recommended, there is no mention of politics. The moral dimension of the characters is caused by their personal and family behaviour, and not by their government decisions. And so the young monarch is legitimised as a victim of parents incapable of loving him and of granting him the necessary trust to fully exercise his role as sovereign.

In His Majesty The monarchy is also legitimised by generational confrontation. In the series by Borja Cobeaga and Diego San José, Pilar (Anna Castillo), a princess with a reputation for being a troublemaker, comes to power when her father Alfonso XIV (Pablo Derqui) has to step aside due to a scandal. Despite the ingenious start in a Copa del Rey football final between Barça and Girona, the series refuses to thoroughly satirise these aspects of the Bourbons through one of the unruly heirs. It prefers to follow Pilar's process to become a proper candidate for queen of Spain, with the help of the secretary of the Royal House, the very devoted to the monarchical cause Guillermo (Ernesto Alterio).

Even in the episodes where they risk a little stirring up the miseries of the state, such as the one with the meeting with the judges of the National Court, the scriptwriters shake up the judiciary more than the monarchy. Far from making fun of the elitist and opportunistic behaviour of the princess, His Majesty ends up celebrating the youngest representative of the monarchy, a girl much more positive than she might seem at first glance, in contrast to her father, the corrupt and cynical figure who no longer serves the country. If in the diptych ofEight caught, Cobeaga and San José put the comedy of cultural conflicts at the service of celebrating the unity of Spain, in His Majesty They go a step further in the practice of a comedy of banal nationalism, this time focusing on vindicating the figure of the young monarch who, for Spain, knows how to distance herself from the excesses of her father.