LThe Spanish Crown is still shaking. Two days after the altercations involving the royal couple in the epicenter of the “cold drop” disaster which ravaged the Valencian coast – and left at least 215 victims – we cannot imagine if something serious had happened to Felipe VI, the head of state, and his wife, Queen Letizia. A certainty emerges, with the distance: at the “Zarzuela”, the palace located in the northwest of Madrid where the royal couple resides, it is claimed that small groups of the extreme right had infiltrated the monarch's passage and had endangered his physical integrity. The Royal House has suggested that it will provide all the graphic documents necessary to prove this, as part of a trial which will be heard by a court in Torrent, a Valencian town close to where the events took place.
Sunday, November 3, anxious to show himself close to the Spaniards who are suffering from the worst floods of the last half century in the country, King Felipe VI decides to go to the heart of the drama, to Paiporta, a town of around 30,000 inhabitants. near Valencia where there are at least 70 deaths, dozens of missing, and incalculable material damage: nothing resisted the passage of a deluge of water which had formed upstream, thanks to a Dana (an isolated depression at a high level) causing unprecedented spills of 500 to 600 liters per square meter. The visit of the king, accompanied by the regional president and the head of the socialist government Pedro Sanchez, turned out very badly: a tumult of anger, insults, physical threats. Never seen before.
The empathy of King Felipe
One could have imagined that the head of state would take public umbrage. But no, he reacted later with calm and empathy: “We must understand the anger and frustration of many people who have had very bad times, it is difficult for them to understand how the mechanisms work. […] relief. » Since the fateful Tuesday, October 29, the inhabitants of Paiporta – and elsewhere – have barely had time to mourn their dead. With the help of hundreds of volunteers from all over the region, they search for the bodies of the missing, clear out the collapsed garages and smashed ground floors as best they can, help each other to lend a helping hand to those who cannot. no longer have a roof, electricity or running water.
Despite the concert of insults and reprimands (“assassins”, “son of a bitch…” “you knew everything and you did nothing”), despite the throwing of mud, sticks and stones, Felipe VI did not It's not deflated. Instead of taking refuge in his company vehicle where his bodyguards were pushing him, he approached the protesters, tried to calm them down, spoke with some, hugged a few others. His wife Letizia, a former journalist without a pedigree, in tears, also listened, comforted.
Pilar Eyre, one of the best experts on the Spanish monarchy, still can't believe it: “I have never seen the king, nor his father, Juan Carlos, nor any European king dare to engage in hand-to-hand combat with people indignant, in the middle of sticks, imprecations, cries. »And added: “At a certain point, the police no longer controlled the protesters, the security cordons were undone, the members of the royal guard were overwhelmed. This was a completely unprecedented situation. »
Media in admiration of King Felipe
Most media outlets, especially conservative titles, have tipped their hats. “Felipe VI not only showed courage, and understood that the suffering people needed his presence and symbolic protection, at the very time when all administrations are being singled out,” comments the online daily El Español.À right, we can clearly distinguish, on the one hand, the monarch and, on the other, the head of government, Pedro Sanchez, also booed, and evacuated after being the object of an attack: many accuse him of having waited too long to send tens of thousands of military and police personnel for relief operations.
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Kangaroo of the day
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“People feel cheated by the political powers,” comments analyst Enric Sierra, “because they were warned too late of the mortal danger, on Tuesday evening, whereas, in the morning, the meteorologists from Aemet, the agency national, were very aware of the danger of leaving the house. »
Hence the importance of the king, the arbiter above the fray, who met with the affected people to restore confidence in the nation. In the eyes of Pilar Eyre, “Felipe VI grew up. He had his 23 F, in my opinion, his seal in History since the abdication of his father in his favor in June 2014.” “23 F”, in other words “February 23, 1981”, corresponds to the famous day when Juan Carlos played a decisive role in the abortion of Lieutenant-Colonel Tejero's coup d'état and the strengthening of Spanish democracy. History will tell if, this Sunday, November 3, 2024, King Felipe VI gained full legitimacy.
