The Old King of the New Spain
By MIGUEL-ANXO MURADO, NYT, JAN. 22, 2014
MADRID — You know a monarchy is in trouble when the queen is jeered at the Royal Theater, of all places, and by a classical music audience. This happened to Queen Sofía of Spain last year in Madrid — a scene then repeated elsewhere with other members of the royal family.
A recent poll put support for the Spanish monarchy at a historic low: More than 60 percent of Spaniards want King Juan Carlos to step down. And all this is happening amid a series of scandals involving the royal household, the most serious of which are corruption charges against the king’s son-in-law, also involving the king’s daughter, Princess Cristina.
What is astonishing about this turn of events is that the Spanish monarchy was once deemed rock-solid. King Juan Carlos was praised both inside and outside Spain as a model monarch; the man who in the 1970s steered the country’s complicated transition from the military rule of Gen. Francisco Franco to parliamentary democracy; the king who stood up to an attempted military coup in 1981. He was said to be loved by his people, who were grateful for what he had done — and it was true.
(More here.)
MADRID — You know a monarchy is in trouble when the queen is jeered at the Royal Theater, of all places, and by a classical music audience. This happened to Queen Sofía of Spain last year in Madrid — a scene then repeated elsewhere with other members of the royal family.
A recent poll put support for the Spanish monarchy at a historic low: More than 60 percent of Spaniards want King Juan Carlos to step down. And all this is happening amid a series of scandals involving the royal household, the most serious of which are corruption charges against the king’s son-in-law, also involving the king’s daughter, Princess Cristina.
What is astonishing about this turn of events is that the Spanish monarchy was once deemed rock-solid. King Juan Carlos was praised both inside and outside Spain as a model monarch; the man who in the 1970s steered the country’s complicated transition from the military rule of Gen. Francisco Franco to parliamentary democracy; the king who stood up to an attempted military coup in 1981. He was said to be loved by his people, who were grateful for what he had done — and it was true.
(More here.)
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