ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Half a century ago the “Generalissimo” Franco died, a dictator echoed and a Bourbon returned to the throne. Tomorrow, 21 November 2025, the Spanish government recalls the historic watershed between Spain of dictatorship and that of constitutional monarchy. “With the paradox that the protagonist, Juan Carlos, the emeritus king today lives in exile in the Gulf and has not been invited to the official celebrations”, writes Enrica Roddolo, Royal signature of Corriere della Sera that has followed all the great real events of recent years, in his new essay “The Book of Kingdoms – Kings and Queens of the World” (Neri Pozzae). “When Juan Carlos reached that throne of Spain which had been “lost” by the avo Alfonso XIII, he will do so as successor, even with royal prerogatives, of General Franco. Enough to understand the challenge of the moment and the legacy passed to Felipe and tomorrow to Leonor that today three Spanish out of four imagine one day on the throne of Queen of Spain”, completes Roddolo.
What judgment on Juan Carlos, half a century after that day of November 1975 that today in Madrid is remembered by an extraordinary meeting of the Congress of Deputies and a ceremony in the royal palace? “Juan Carlos, a king born in Rome in 1938, was undoubtedly the great protagonist of the economic and international legitimacy of Spain in recent decades. The protagonist of what was called Juancarlismo. For this reason, despite the mistakes made at the end of his reign that convinced him to abdicate in favor of his son Felipe in 2014, I believe that these celebrations without the protagonist of that season do not take into account the intelligence of the young king who, as I retrace in the book, found himself facing different complexity to pass a dictatorship in a modern democracy”.
Juan Carlos is not at the official ceremony, but King Felipe invited him on Saturday to family lunch to privately celebrate the goal of the half century of the new Spanish monarchy. “The son Felipe, while keeping the institutional plan separate, thus recognizes the role played by his father in the history of the country which is also the story of the Bourbons, his and the heir Leonor nephew of Juan Carlos. A ruler of which Juan Luis Cebrißn, founder of El País, also recognizes the merits in the first season of his reign. Citing historian Paul Preston, Cebriàn argues that the story will recall Juan Carlos as the king who brought democracy to Spain and defended it on February 23, 1981 by Colonel Tejero’s attempted coup, despite making serious mistakes.”.
To the question, which king is Felipe, who inherited the throne after the abdication of his father, Roddolo in the book defines him “a very credible ruler, reliable for the country”. “Many have seen in his message to the nation on October 3, 2017, after the referendum for independence in Catalonia, an important message to give support to a demoralized government and also to ensure the non-nationalist half of Catalonia: “You are not alone.” Queen Letizia? “A bourgeois originally moved to the left, little loved by the conservatives but I think it can expand support for the monarchist institution. And the visit exactly a year ago of the Spanish royals in Valencia damaged by Dana aroused respect.”.
A celebration, that of Madrid on the occasion of the 50 years from the end of Frankism, which also features Queen Sofia, wife of Juan Carlos. Why does his son Felipe decorate it today with the highest Order of Spain, the Golden Toson? “For his devotion to the service of the nation and the monarchical institution, an infamous queen who also now in the role of sovereign emeritus continues to perform many Royal engagements. And with Sofia, King Felipe will also decorate the former president of the government Felipe Gonzßlez, as well as jurists like Miquel Roca and Miguel Herrero along with Rodríguez de Miñón, the noble fathers of the Constitution of democratic Spain today.”.
The book of Roddolo, speaks of Spain, and of the Bourbons leading the country, but tells in reality all the kingdoms of the world: from the United Kingdom of Charles III to Denmark of Frederik X, to Sweden, Norway, Holland, the Principality of Monaco and still to distant kingdoms, in the desert like Jordan or Morocco and kingdoms in the East, from Imperial Japan to Buthan. A real tour of the world between the secrets of court and the history of the royal houses. “In throwing his expert gaze on the world’s monarchies, Enrica Roddolo not only offers a book that the Royal-lovers will love to read, but makes even more light on a phenomenon that, as anachronistic as it may seem to many, remains a source of “color” and continuity in a time of difficult to understand changes,” writes in the Preface Daniel Franklin of the Economist.
– photos Neri Pozza –
(ITALPRESS).
