Monarchies are not eternal. It is enough to look at the history books to see that this is a fact. The kings, in contemporary constitutional and democratic monarchies, have to earn their jobs like all other citizens. The monarch who does not know how to do this, who is not able in difficult times to identify with his people, to exercise moral leadership before the citizens, to use his strong symbolic power to unite and not to confront, will eventually fall. Few contemporary kings are as clear on this as Felipe VI.
There are numerous and legendary precedents. During the World War IIthe constant and combative radio addresses of Guillermina de Netherlands held high the spirit and dignity national dignity of the Dutch. That indomitable woman, who called to Hitler “archenemy of mankind,” she earned the nickname “Wilhelmina Lionheart.”
During the same years, Haakon VII of Norway followed suit. He had refused to talk to the Nazis and to recognize the puppet government they had imposed on his country. Once he was safely in Londonbecame the biggest and best beacon of Norwegian resistance.
Christian X of Denmark refused to go into exile during the Nazi occupation and, despite his age – he was over 70 years old – he took a daily horseback ride through Copenhagen, alone, without any escort, which inflamed the national spirit of the Danes. When the Germans asked why no one protected him on those daily walks, they were told, “All of Denmark is his bodyguard.”
Jorge VI flatly refused to abandon the United Kingdom when the Luftwaffe began bombing London. He did not want to escape to Canada. Every day he dressed as a naval officer and with his wife, Queen Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, he would go to visit the bombed areas and comfort the victims.. At first, people booed them. But when the bombs fell on Buckingham Palace and nearly killed the king, those daily visits to the rubble and the wounded turned into a delirium of applause, tears and gratitude.. Londoners realized that George VI, despite his wavering voice, had an indomitable character and considered him, now forever, one of their own, the great moral leader of the nation.
All these kings earned their place. They all returned to their countries or remained in them and kept the arbitral, constitutional and above all moral prestige. of their monarchies. Those who did not know how or did not dare to be brave, did not take long to fall.
A natural devastation, however terrible it may be, is not a war, but all these examples have much to do with what Don Felipe and Doña Letizia did a few days ago in Valencia.. They defied the bitterness, the rage and even the anger of the victims of the tragedy, and went straight to embrace them, to comfort them, to be with them.
It is not the first time that King Felipe has had to earn his position. A little more than ten years ago, when he assumed the crown, he wasThe Crown was at a very low point in its valuation. due to the less than exemplary personal behavior of Juan Carlos IThe monarchy has nothing to do with his decisive role in the consolidation of democracy in Spain. Don Juan Carlos abdicated in June 2014 and Don Felipe did not hesitate to cut ties with his father to save the monarchy. And he succeeded.
Another turning point came on October 3, 2017, when Catalan secessionists sought to break Catalonia away from the common nation. The King appeared on television and delivered a tough and categorical speechwhich had two immediate effects: to provoke the infinite anger of the separatists, which still lasts, and to make it clear to the rest of Spaniards that this adventure was doomed to failure. He told the non-separatist Catalans, who were the majority, that they were not alone, that they would never be alone, that they had the full support and solidarity of the rest of the Spanish people.
There have been other occasions, perhaps less conspicuous, in which King Felipe has more than more than earned the job given to him by the Constitution, but Valencia has been simply unforgettable and exemplary. We will never be able to erase from our memory the image of how the King pushed aside the umbrellas with which they tried to protect him; how he and the Queen, with their faces and clothes covered with mud, approached with all determination those who were shouting and crying, with their nerves broken by the abandonment, the chaos and the lack of coordination.How they talked to everyone, even the angriest: “Would you prefer that I stay in Madrid and not come?” he said to a very exalted citizen; how they embraced everyone; how they shared tears and how they demonstrated the obvious: se are you, we are with you, we come to help. Politicians will do what they want, but the King did not hesitate for a second to put the Royal Guard itself at the service of the victims. Quite an example.
In the midst of this citizen situation of grief, despair and anguish and anger that could provoke fear among the authorities present, it became very clear who were the ones who held the moral leadership of that tremendous, very difficult and risky encounter at the epicenter of the tragedy.
Like their ancient and courageous relatives in different countries, the King and Queen have shown that their job is not only to receive ambassadors, cut ribbons, smile waving their hands and undertake state trips abroad to promote Spain. They have shown that they know how to do their job as moral leaders, as referents for their citizens, both in the hardest and the hardest times. They have shown that they are above the tedious, acid and sterile partisan quarrels. They have more than proved that they can look in the face of the people who suffer so much in Valencia. They have once again earned their position. Thank you Majesties for once again maintaining the framework and dignity of our democracy.