King Juan Carlos did not ever clearly state the reasons why he was leaving the power to his son. Shortly after 10:30 Tuesday morning, he simply said: “It is time to hand over to a new generation — younger, with a lot of energy — that can, with determination, take on and carry out the changes that the current situation demands, and to face with intensity and determination the challenges oftomorrow.”
He did not mention the insurrectional state of his kingdom. Nor did he say that he felt any relation between the results of the European elections last week, in which the two traditional parties scored together only 50% of the votes, and a clear reject for the forces in power, including himself. Nor did he ever say that the fact his daughter, “la infanta Cristina” (who should have succeeded him), was convicted for not paying her taxes six months ago could have damaged in an unprecedented way the monarchy’s prestige. Finally, never did he make any mention of the crisis last year originated when he was caught enjoying this lavish elephant hunting session in Africa, all this being obviously paid by the struggling Spanish taxpayers! It all weighs too much, so not even a word on any of this. The effect Juan Carlos wants to achieve with this surprise announcement is to have the Spaniards and the world think something is actually happening!
He decided he’d abdicate back in January, and only told Rajoy (right wing leader) in March, then Rubalcaba (former left wing leader) in April. Now the whole world is freaking out.
And the worst is that even the youngsters, and with them the true revolutionaries who are overly exasperated to struggle with misery and minimum wages as low as 650 euros a month, are truly convinced that something is happening. Twenty thousand of them are filling up the Puerta del Sol in Madrid and several thousands of them are taking on the streets of Barcelona and of other major cities.
This crowd wants the end of monarchy as the beginning of a bright future for their country, as a “republic”, they proudly say. They are forgetting the French revolution was a révolution bourgoise. Most of them want to stop spending money on a monarch who drinks good wines and goes hunting elephants… No way to blame them on this.
But this revolution gets ugly and looks like a mirage for the Spaniards, when you realize that Pablo Iglesias, the one who is currently calling for a referendum on the future of monarchy, is the one supposed to be a genuine voice for these angry crowds. He should be sincere and instead, the new voice of the mass media in Spain, the leader for new left wing political party Podemos, earns his living being an anchor on private TV channels in Spain. Which makes it easy for him to lower his salary as a Eurodeputy and be so proud of it. The truth is that he is pushing for another globalist agenda: the disappearance of the nation State and of monarchy as one of the last symbols of it…
The monarchy is certainly out of touch and has its own globalist agenda. As his father said, Felipe is “the best prepared King ever.”. And, indeed, he studied a masters in International Relations at Georgetown University. So, he will be the first of his kind, governing an old Europe kingdom, with such a pedigree. The new monarch, Felipe when he got married with TV anchor (her too!) Laeticia, horrified his people with the money he spent on the ceremony. So despite of his sort of pleasant look, is he trustworthy?
Both options look dull, but still, if the legitimately angry crowd can actually prevent Felipe from becoming a king, then there will be nothing left from the symbolic of Spain’s splendor. And this empire of the past that used to rule the world back in the fourteenth century will disappear forever.
