The recent squabbles and tensions between the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and King Felipe VI, have once again put the complex coexistence between the Head of State and the executive under the spotlight. This is not a new phenomenon. Historian Charles Powell recalled how the former President of the Spanish Government, José María Aznar, deliberately sidelined the emeritus King Juan Carlos I during state visits of great international relevance, generating enormous suspicion at the Zarzuela Palace. These frictions highlight an unavoidable reality of the Spanish political system: theoretically, the monarch and the President of the Government must get along by force, as practically no act of the King is valid without the executive's approval.

Since there has been a coalition government in Spain, criticisms from Sumar ministers against the king have occurred to the point where they are now part of normality, as are walkouts at official royal house events. However, this is not the case with socialist ministers. In fact, the socialist part of the state government has always staunchly defended the head of state, even against criticisms from the right and far-right regarding certain speeches or actions, taking into account that everything Felipe VI does must be endorsed by the Spanish government. Nevertheless, this week a sudden crisis has emerged between the Spanish government and the Crown that represents a plot twist, following a harsh criticism from a socialist minister like Óscar Puente, one of the main escorts of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, over a recent photograph of the king with the far-right agitator Javier Negre in Colombia, within the framework of the investiture of the new leader, Abelardo de la Espriella.

Nine years ago, a group of Moroccan citizens was demonstrating in Casablanca. They waved Moroccan flags and held up banners that read down with colonialism. Others were written in Arabic. The scene was captured by Efe photojournalist Karim Selmaoui. And the reason they were protesting was none other than the visit of the Spanish royal family to Ceuta. It was the first time Juan Carlos and Sofia had set foot on the African continent to visit this autonomous city – it took them 32 years from the start of their reign. It was also the last. In fact, since then, there has been no visit from the Spanish monarchy to Ceuta, nor to Melilla. It is Felipe VI's pending trip as king, although as prince he never went either.

Whenever the Spanish national football team excels in any competition – and let's not even mention if that competition is the World Cup – the index of absurdity in political life skyrockets. Valle-Inclán would have had a field day these days. The image of Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and the princesses – or whatever their title is – Sofia and Leonor sitting on a cheap two-seater sofa watching Spain's match against France on a small TV propped up on some kind of scaffolding, in a damp and dark apartment, seemed like a bad joke. All that was missing was the unborn conceived to complete the picture of an ideal Spanish family, poor but decent and united. Trying to pass off the Bourbons as members of a sort of working-class family, who have a brief moment of happiness when the red one wins, and who then allow themselves to jump, dance, and hug in the humble dining room that is the setting for all their joys and sorrows, is excessive even for such a dilapidated and crude royal house as the Spanish one. At least they could do us the favor of not mocking the poor by dressing up as if they were. However: there is something even worse in all this, and that is that if they do it, it is because those who take care of their communication and image assume that it will work for them. That many citizens will accept the message and feel sympathy for monarchs who are "like them". Simultaneously, M. Rajoy, a former Spanish president who is not being investigated by the justice system (on the contrary: he appears before the courts with ostentatious and tolerated arrogance), has revived a concept from his years in office, that of the Spanish Brand. He gave a recital of it when he made the xenophobic statement that the French team was playing "without Frenchmen," and in a continuation in which, far from rectifying, he took the opportunity to attack the current government. Rajoy's writing (or whoever writes his articles, published, needless to say, in a hard-right online newspaper) is directly related to the Borbons' little house: something bizarre, disordered, unbecoming of a minimally educated person. Every public appearance by Rajoy always has an eccentric touch that in his case is intentional: Rajoy does not disguise himself as poor, but as a fool, and when everyone laughs he achieves exactly what he wanted: in Spanish there is the saying "Ande yo caliente y ríase la gente", which in Catalan could have as an equivalent – never more fitting – that of "Feed me and call me Moor".Rajoy, by the way, says that Sánchez acted as a "informer" to the French, and from the PP they have stated that the successes of the Spanish national team suit Sánchez very well as a smokescreen. If Feijóo and his try to present the red one as an agent of sanchismo, it might turn out even worse for them than comparing work absences with cancer. By the way, showing up at an international forum trying to sell that Sánchez is like Putin, Trump, or Xi Jinping ("an authoritarian president") doesn't fly either. Euphoria makes them lose their rhythm, and that has consequences. Not just in football.

The delivery of the Princess of Girona awards, by the monarchical foundation of the same name, entails the presence in Catalonia of the king, the princess, and the infanta. And when Felipe VI arrived this Tuesday in front of the Liceu – because he is banned in Girona – the ANC's action to try to boycott the head of state's visit took place: a group of about a hundred activists, camouflaged by a mass of umbrellas in the style of the Roman Empire's tortoise formation, threw rubber balls at him, but they did not reach their target by many meters and the monarch did not even notice. A banner with the king upside down could be seen on the building opposite the Liceu.

In mid-March, positions between Mexico and Spain and its monarchy had significantly approached, but the trip by the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, last May seemed to have taken some steps backward in the relations between the two countries —Ayuso ignited relations when she praised the conqueror Hernán Cortés—. Early this morning, a meeting between King Felipe VI and the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, in Mexico has served to signal that bilateral relations between the two states are on the path to normalization.

In an event in Madrid, Felipe VI called to “continue to trust in democracy, even in these somewhat dark days”. What a beacon, the Spanish royal house. It is true that, as in Bob Dylan's song, there is a long and black cloud descending upon all of us, the citizens of the West, and it is the black cloud of the far right and new fascisms. But every time the King of Spain praises democracy, he reminds us that his position and his very figure are not democratic. Representative democracy was born as a response to the absolutist Ancien Régime, of which monarchies were the political form par excellence. In the case of Felipe VI (and his father, Juan Carlos I), this contradiction is aggravated by the fact that they are heads of state by mandate of their predecessor, the dictator Francisco Franco – leader of one of the longest-lived and bloodiest dictatorships of the 20th century –, a maneuver that prevented the resumption of the republic – that one, yes – democratic republic that was aborted by the fascist and military coup of 1936, of which it will be ninety years on July 18th.If by "dark days" the monarch means to allude to political corruption, perhaps he would do well to start by looking at his own home. Juan Carlos I fled Spain to avoid having to answer for his fiscal crimes, and for six years he has lived in Abu Dhabi with a level of luxury that is evidently the same as what the character is accustomed to. Spanish justice (which, as Juan Carlos himself said, "is the same for everyone") shelved the cases against him with technicalities and excuses: the crimes had prescribed, or Juan Carlos was exonerated thanks to the shielding that the 1978 Constitution itself provides for his figure, an exaggerated protection to the point that Juan Carlos de Borbón is the only person mentioned by name and surname in the constitutional text (it is in article 57.1, which literally says: "The Crown of Spain is hereditary in the successors of H.M. Juan Carlos I of Bourbon, legitimate heir of the historic dynasty. Succession to the throne shall follow the regular order of primogeniture and representation, and the line anterior to the posterior shall always be preferred; in the same line, the closer degree to the more remote; in the same degree, the man to the woman, and in the same sex the older person to the younger", a wording that, as can be seen, is a real ode to democracy.In any case, since he insists on “trusting democracy”, it would be good for Felipe VI to remember that the United Arab Emirates, where his father resides, is a theocratic dictatorship that does not recognize human rights. And to mention more domestic matters, that the Marivent Palace in Mallorca, where he will soon go for the summer holidays, is actually the house that the artist Joan de Saridakis bequeathed to the Mallorcan citizens to be a cultural center open to everyone. Instead, it was plundered to turn it into the summer residence of the Spanish royal family.

The Alimentaria and Hostelco joint congress, dedicated to the agri-food industry, hospitality, and catering, opened its doors this Monday at the Fira de Barcelona, ​​on the very day that Brussels announced the provisional entry into force of the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, a treaty that could change the food sector in the years to come. The congress, which takes place every two years, expects around 110,000 attendees, according to organizers last week. It would surpass both the Mobile World Congress and Integrated Systems Europe in visitors. (ISE), currently the two trade fairs with the highest visitor numbers held in Barcelona. However, unlike these two congresses, where the majority of attendees come from abroad, Alimentaria has a majority of visitors (approximately three out of four) from within Spain.

The US Congress passed two formal resolutions in 2008 (the House of Representatives) and 2009 (the Senate) apologizing to African Americans for slavery and racial segregation. In 2022, Belgium also apologized in the Congo for colonial abuses. Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom have also made similar gestures. In contrast, in Spain, every step in that direction infuriates the right wing. This is precisely what happened after King Felipe VI said on Monday, at the opening of an exhibition on indigenous women in Mexico, that during colonization there was "much abuse" and "ethical controversies." In response to these words, the leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, called it "nonsense" to pass judgment on what happened in the 15th century. And Vox spokesperson Pepa Millán asserted that the colonization of America is "the principal evangelizing and civilizing work in universal history" and that the rights of the "subjects" were always respected. Feijóo's words demonstrate a complete lack of empathy for the peoples of the American continent, where the legacy of colonialism is still visible today. And Millán's are simply false and lack the slightest historical rigor. However, both harbor the outdated vision of Spanish national Catholicism and an undisguised Western supremacism, which considers the indigenous peoples of America to have been culturally inferior and in need of being "civilized" by Europeans.

For several years, Spanish state nationalism breathed a sigh of relief: it had found in Felipe VI a king even more suitable and more devoted to the unyielding principles of Spain's sacred unity than his father, Juan Carlos, who was too frivolous and too fond of money, women, and the high life. More austere and more preparedAs they often repeated (nationalisms always tend to thrive on believing their own lies), Felipe VI ascended to the throne in 2014, precisely as a consequence of a scandal involving skirts, elephants, and money starring his father, and had his baptism of fire—perhaps it would be more accurate to call it that—in 2017, when he delivered an infamous speech criminalizing Catalan independence just after the equally infamous police actions of October 1st. It was, as it has been called countless times, one How scary! pronounced by the head of Spain, which kicked off the judicial and police persecution, and the media and social breakdown of Catalan separatism, which has taken place during the following years (and to which a part of the separatists themselves have collaborated, with idiotic fervor).

He Felipe VI's acknowledgment of the "abuses" in the conquest of America The monarch's remarks have been positively received by Mexico. The country's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, stated at a press conference on Tuesday that these words represent "a gesture of rapprochement" from the head of state, acknowledging "the excesses and exterminations that occurred during the arrival of the Spanish." She added that "we must recognize this and continue to move forward with the dialogue," in a process that "requires further work." On the other hand, the monarch's statements have not been well received by Vox, as expected, and have also generated discomfort within the People's Party (PP). Both parties made this clear in their reactions on Tuesday to the monarch's words, with which he intended to make a gesture toward Mexico. He has been asking for an apology from Spain for years. because of its colonial past. Although neither the right nor the far right have sought a direct confrontation with the head of state, both parties have distanced themselves from his position and have reaffirmed "the pride of the Spanish legacy" in Latin America.

The Spanish royal household has posted a video on social media showing and featuring Felipe de Borbón. Recorded standing in a circle with the Mexican ambassador to Madrid, he informally comments that yes, during the Conquest, there were "many abuses" and "controversies." Pope Francis has already apologized to Mexico for the atrocities committed in the name of the Catholic Church during evangelization, not to mention the apologies offered by the King of England to his former colonies. In other words, Spain is very late. So late, in fact, that to turn things around, it must begin with a gentle communication maneuver: in the supposedly informal realm of social media, without the weight of an official statement, much less a retraction of the narrative of October 12th, so as not to disrupt the breakfast of readers of theABC nor to Aznar, who made that clever joke about the name of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador:Andrew, on the part of the Aztecs; Manuel, on the part of the Maya; López, a mixture of Aztecs and Incas, and Obrador"From Santander," celebrated by the claque that listened to her.

Closer relations between Spain and Mexico after the clash over the colonial pastKing Felipe VI admitted this Monday in a conversation with the Mexican ambassador to Madrid, Quirino Ordaz, that Spain committed "many abuses" during the conquest of America, despite the "desire to protect" of the Catholic Monarchs. This is evident in a video posted by the royal household on its Instagram and X accounts, where the Spanish monarch uses his knowledge of history to learn lessons for the future.

The traditional pre-Mobile dinner, with King Felipe VI and the country's main political and business personalities, was held this Sunday evening at the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) to kick off the most important technology and connectivity congress, the Mobile World Congress (MWC). This year, the congress celebrates its twentieth edition in Barcelona, from this Monday until Thursday, March 5th. Long gone are the meetings where the news was the (non-)greeting between the Catalan government and the monarchy; now the talk is of international geopolitics.

This week has been a new test for the parliamentary monarchy system that Spain adopted with the approval of the Constitution. The declassification of documents related to the attempted coup d'état of February 23 has generated several debates, especially regarding the possible return of the emeritus king and the conditions under which it could take place. In the face of the controversy, the royal household has been quick to react. From the Zarzuela Palace, it has been made very clear that Juan Carlos I can return to reside in Spanish territory whenever he decides. But the message contained a warning. If he does, he must be aware that this step implies that "he would have to reestablish his tax residence in Spain". This may be the decisive factor preventing his return. The investigations by the Prosecutor's Office into the emeritus king, which came to nothing, should not imply that once he is settled here again, a kind of guarantee of confidentiality and disinterest regarding his finances and assets will operate. Under these conditions, it is unlikely that Juan Carlos I will abandon the possibility he now has of coming and going as he pleases and settling here again peacefully, which in his case means being able to dispense with the public treasury's attentions that citizens usually receive.

If former King Juan Carlos I wants to return to Spain, he should renounce his tax residency in the United Arab Emirates. This is the advice of sources at the Royal Household consulted by ARA, who believe that to "safeguard his image and reputation from speculation and potential criticism, and consequently, the image of the Crown, he should regain his tax residency in Spain." This would automatically mean paying taxes to the Spanish state and, therefore, returning to the scrutiny of the Spanish tax authorities. But in the case of the former king, there are other implications beyond contributing to the public coffers.

Carmen Calvo speaking with José María Aznar. Felipe González and Miquel Roca. Or the Queen greeting Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo. These are images only seen at celebrations like the one held this Tuesday in the Congress of Deputies, where all the institutions of the State come together to commemorate an anniversary. This Tuesday's event was special, as the Senate and Congress convened jointly to reaffirm that the 1978 Constitution is the longest-lasting in Spanish history. The Speaker of the Congress, Francina Armengol, offered words of praise, calling for everyone to "honor" the Constitution and "not let their guard down" in ensuring its effectiveness, while King Felipe VI affirmed that the path has been "brilliant" and will continue to be so "if we keep writing it." However, the attendance at the event alone suggests that this "together" journey has many nuances.

On the Spanish right, it is taken for granted that the Spanish government is attempting to "colonize" all state institutions, including the royal household. A theory circulating widely, particularly among the far right, is that the monarch has been kidnapped by Pedro Sánchez's Spanish executive, which dictates his every move. Another version, supported by the People's Party (PP), suggests that the Moncloa Palace (the Prime Minister's office) is trying to influence all areas of Felipe VI's actions, but that this has not been successful due to alleged resistance from the Zarzuela Palace (the Royal Palace). The PP continues to staunchly defend the monarch—despite some contradictions—but Vox has distanced itself from the king and only defends the Crown as an institution, according to several sources consulted by ARA.

Donald Trump's recent attack on Venezuela, which continues to shake the international community, also cast a shadow over the traditional Military Easter celebration at the Royal Palace in Madrid. Without explicitly mentioning it, King Felipe VI underscored the need to strengthen the armed forces, invest in defense, and generate a "credible deterrent" in the face of the "growing sense of threat." In his year-end address, the Spanish monarch noted that we are living in a "complex geostrategic era." In his view, the past year has once again "demonstrated how valuable and necessary" it is to have a well-prepared and well-equipped army, one that is "up to the challenge." The monarch praised Spain's "firm and unequivocal commitment" to its EU and NATO allies, as well as to organizations such as the UN and to "multilateralism and, ultimately, the rules-based global order."