The king continues his exile in Sant Boi de Llobregat, near Girona.

BarcelonaSince Girona declared Felipe VI person persona non grataThe monarchs have not set foot again to present the awards of the Princess of Girona Foundation, a private entity but linked to the royal family. The King's speech on October 3, 2017 This prompted the pro-independence parties in the city council, then governed by Marta Madrenas (Junts), to form a united front to express their rejection of the Spanish monarchy from within the City Hall. Even the PSC abstained, leaving Cs and PP to defend the king alone. Since then, the Princess of Girona Foundation has had to scramble year after year to find a venue to present these awards to young talent or to organize related activities. This Tuesday, the King and Queen will stop in Sant Boi de Llobregat, where they will announce one of the winners in one of the categories, the 2026 Princess of Girona Social Award. The event coincides with King Felipe VI's visit to Barcelona to present judicial appointments to a new class of judges.

The King and Queen's presence in Sant Boi de Llobregat is part of the Princess of Girona Foundation's Talent Tour, which includes various activities related to the awards and talks for young people. It passes through several provinces of Spain and, for the third year in a row, will begin in Catalonia. In 2024 the chosen city was Lleida, while in 2025 this event kicked off in Hospitalet de Llobregat. Nowhere, therefore, remotely close to the Girona region.

The Foundation's major annual event, the awards ceremony in its five categories – Art, CreaEmpresa, Research, Social, and International – has also remained outside of Girona. Last year it was held at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, with the entire royal family in attendance. calls by Felipe VI to "strengthen" ties between Catalonia and Spain. This decision brought an end to the experiment of trying to bring the ceremony back, at least, to the Girona region. This had already happened in 2024, when it took place at the Costa Brava Congress Palace in Lloret de Mar—where the PSC governs—and in 2023 in Caldes de Malavella. Junts governs there, but the event was held in a private hotel. Pro-independence activists protested, and the Fundació's headquarters was adorned with an Estelada flag.

Lluc Salellas reaffirms the rejection

The exile of the kings from Girona will continue, because the city's current mayor, Lluc Salellas (Guanyem-CUP), has already stated that he does not intend to grant them access to the Auditori, the usual venue for the awards. Salellas is thus maintaining the policy applied by Mayor Madrenas in 2018, at the first awards ceremony after the application of Article 155 and the king's speech. The initial argument was that renovations were necessary, so permission was denied to the Foundation, which is based in the city. Subsequently, the mayor argued that until the king apologized, no municipal facilities should be made available to him. That year, the Foundation had to organize the awards at Mas Marroch in Vilablareix, owned by the Roca brothers. Salellas, who was a city councilor at the time, had asked the family of restaurateurs not to accept the venue so as not to normalize the "repression," words that deeply offended the Rocas. The following year, in 2019, the awards were presented for the first time in Barcelona, ​​at the Palau de Congressos. Madrenas didn't attach much importance to it: "It's a private entity, and they can go wherever they want. [...] I will never pay tribute to someone who has encouraged the repression of citizens," he added. The 2021 and 2020 awards were presented together, due to the pandemic, at the CaixaForum in Barcelona, ​​while in 2022 the chosen city was Cornellà de Llobregat. The holding of a minor event in December in Girona—in this case, an award for Young Athletes' Values ​​was presented, without the King and Queen—also stirred controversy. Salellas criticized Isla for attending and for holding the event at the Generalitat headquarters in the capital. There were also protests.