He's never had it easy. Felipe VI inherited the Crown in 2014 in the midst of a serious institutional crisis that his father, Juan Carlos I, helped fuel. Since then, he has had to face political scenarios so conducive to contributing to his legitimization as complex to manage from that ambiguous constitutional framework that designates him as the arbiter and moderator of the “regular functioning of the institutions”, while considering him exempt from responsibility and restricting his room for maneuver. The response to the 2017 independence offensive marked a clear milestone in his career. Now, the confrontation over the 'procés' amnesty, taken to the streets, once again grants the monarch's traditional Christmas Eve speech special significance.
The few opinion polls published in this regard suggest that the intervention of the head of state with his televised appearance on October 3, six years ago, contributed to strengthening his figure in Spain as a whole as well as increasing the disaffection of a significant part of Catalonia. Until this year, since 2018, the Princess of Girona Foundation Awards ceremony had not been held again in the province that gives them their name as a result of these tensions.
The terrain that the King is currently treading on is perhaps somewhat less swampy than that, but it has added difficulties. Today the institutional role played by the republican left and the Catalan and Basque independence movement, on which the socialist coalition government depends, is much greater than then, despite having less parliamentary representation. But in addition, an extreme anti-monarchist right that openly questions his figure has also gained visibility in the demonstrations against the socialist concessions. He even makes him co-responsible for the “coup d'état” which in his opinion implies leaving the crimes of the 'procés' unpunished with a law that, if approved by Parliament, he will have to sign.
The King's messages
2014
Against corruption
Don Juan Carlos had abdicated in June to make way for the regeneration that the situation demanded. Felipe VI took the baton, stating that it was up to the “Spanish people of today” to continue building the future, although he claimed the legacy received, that Spain is a “consolidated democracy” and that he himself felt “loved and appreciated.” He did not ignore the procedural situation of her sister and, without naming her, made the fight against corruption the focus of her speech.
2015
After an election
Four days had passed since elections with fragmented results. The King appealed for the general interest to prevail. But the Government was not formed and the elections were repeated. The throne room was the setting for the speech, which underpinned his message about the history of Spain as a whole. There was underlying concern about Catalonia: the Parliament had approved a declaration of rupture. That year she had revoked the title of Duchess of Palma from Infanta Cristina.
2016
premonitory speech
Precursor message of the tense 2017: without mentioning Catalonia, he stressed that it was not time for “fractures” and warned against violating the law because this would only lead “to sterile confrontations.” As a setting, Felipe VI chose his office, witness to the hearings with politicians to finally manage to form a Government after two general elections. This gave him cause to celebrate that the necessary serenity had been “recovered” so that citizens could have “peace of mind” to develop their projects.
2017
Softer than after 1-O
After the resounding message in the gestures and words of October 3 after the illegal 1-O referendum, the King was more conciliatory on Christmas Eve: he remained firm in his defense of the constitutional order, he summoned the new Government that would be formed after the elections held three days before the royal message to respect plurality and think about the common good, but also pointed out the need for a Spain “willing to evolve”, not “paralyzed” and that is “excited”.
2018
Wink to youth
A scenic detail, a photo of the King with Princess Leonor, highlighted dynastic continuity. And the allusion to the problems of youth wanted to show a Crown sensitive to the economic and labor difficulties of that generation. She also added a pill against sexist violence. Innovations that he added to the vindication of the spirit of the Transition, the validity of the Constitution that was 40 years old and the political consensus to face the challenges and ward off disenchantment and pessimism.
2019
Another Government in office
Pedro Sánchez had the royal charge of forming a government after the 10-N elections (repeated after those held in April). Second speech, then, of the monarch with an acting Executive – as in 2015 -, within an interim period that lasted ten months, which led him to recognize that these were not “easy times.” He now appealed to an “understanding” “within respect for the Constitution”, which he brandished for its recognition of diversity within the “unity that gives us strength.”
2020
Ethics above family
Pandemic year, but with the coronavirus in the background in the speech. The focus was on his father: in March, one day after the state of alarm was declared, Felipe VI had renounced his inheritance and on Christmas Eve he reaffirmed his ethical commitment above family ties. He did not mention Juan Carlos I, but there was no doubt that he, who had resided in Abu Dhabi since August, was the recipient of the message. He took the opportunity to vindicate the “renewing spirit” of his reign.
2021
Crown Protection
Felipe VI once again put the emphasis on the institution he leads to cleanse it of the remains of the emeritus' less than exemplary behavior that is still present. The summary of his intervention was: “a renewed monarchy for a new time”; and without blemish or, as he said, “honest, upright and transparent” as well as an “example of public and moral integrity.” He made no reference to the future that awaited his father, who came to visit Spain in May amid great controversy.
2022
Strengthen institutions
The King took advantage of his ninth speech, in a year marked by the war in Ukraine, to warn about the risks that could arise from the growing social division, the deterioration of coexistence and institutional erosion. In the midst of an unprecedented outbreak between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers, Felipe VI urged to “strengthen the institutions” to have “solid institutions.” He warned of the danger of “taking for granted” everything achieved in “almost 45 years” of the Constitution.
Several of the institutional events in which Felipe VI has participated in recent months with Pedro Sánchez have seen him with an extremely serious rictus and an unusual frown. The president's entourage does not take notice. They assure that the relationship with the monarch is “extraordinary” and, despite criticism from the opposition, also for other decisions such as allowing the processing of a reform of the Penal Code proposed by Sumar to decriminalize insults to the king, they defend their commitment with the continuity of the Crown, with which the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, has been working in a coordinated manner for some time, among other things, for the swearing-in of the Constitution of the Princess of Asturias on October 31 in Congress. Even so, they do not deny that the situation may be uncomfortable.
Precedents
The speech that the King will offer tonight to the Spanish people, the tenth of his reign, has as a precedent the one he already gave on November 29 in Congress on the occasion of the solemn opening session of the XV Legislature. The difference is that this has a much larger and less specific potential audience. The most viewed Christmas Eve speech of those given by Felipe VI so far was – discounting the one from the year of the pandemic, 2020, which almost reached 10.5 million viewers and a 70.3% screen share – the one that followed its proclamation, with 8.2 million and a screen share of 73.4%. In 2017 it also exceeded 8.1 million. But the usual thing is that it moves between six and eight million viewers.
Before the Cortes Generales – when the PSOE had just set a date for its first meeting with the former president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, a fugitive from justice, and an international verifier in Geneva – the monarch made a forceful plea in favor of the pact of '78 that today the allies of the Government question; He stressed that Spain has been a “shared reality” for “centuries”, asked to guide politics to young people to give them a nation (he did not use the term) “solid and united” and claimed the Constitution as an “expression of mutual understanding” and pact which recognizes the “diversity and plurality” of the country. He also stressed, in response to those who denigrate the monarchy as a legacy of Francoism, its submission to the “constitutional values and principles” and thanked the parties that participated normally in the round of contacts to the investiture, boycotted by the secessionist allies of the Executive.
It is likely that a good part of that message will be repeated today, previously reviewed, as usual, by the Government, without whose endorsement the King's acts are invalid. It is also to be expected that each party will make its own interpretation of it. Nobody can expect, in any case, that it will go much further. The climate of polarization that shakes political life and separates the two main Spanish parties is for a leadership without functions beyond the representative, but at the same time qualified by the Magna Carta as a “symbol of the unity and permanence” of the State, difficult to navigate.
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