A complicated lineage connecting him to Queen Elizabeth II. A low-key coronation
to avoid scandal. The details of his wealth becoming public knowledge.
This is the truth about King Felipe VI of Spain that you never knew.
The role of the monarchy in Spain is largely ornamental,
yet exceedingly important to national unity, culture, and the functioning of the government.
Like the U.K., Spain has a constitutional monarchy,
meaning the reigning monarch is empowered by the Constitution to act as ceremonial head of state.
However, actual governance is left in the hands of an elected parliament led by the prime minister.
Although the Spanish monarch appoints the prime minister, they are expected to follow
conventions when doing so, typically appointing the leader of the majority party in parliament.
Usually, the Spanish monarch is expected to officially call for elections
and referenda while staying up to date on matters of the state,
its governance, and its relationships with other nations through formal meetings and summits.
Although the British and Spanish monarchies and governments have some similarities, the origins of
the United Kingdom's unwritten constitution extend all the way back to the 13th century. Spain's
Constitution, on the other hand, was adopted in 1978 — three years after Felipe's father,
Juan Carlos, ascended the throne. Juan Carlos became king after the death of Francisco Franco,
whose military dictatorship began in the 1930s after the deposition of Felipe's grandfather,
Alfonso XIII. King Felipe has the distinction of being the
first Spanish monarch to have been guided by the Constitution from day one of his reign.
Although King Felipe VI has sometimes referred to Queen Elizabeth II as his
"Aunt Lilibet," he's not actually her nephew. Rather, he is her third cousin once removed.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you all to rise and drink a toast to their majesties,
the king and queen, and the people of Spain."
Hold on tight, because this is about to get confusing: Queen Elizabeth is Queen Victoria's
great-great-granddaughter because her father, George VI was the son of George V, who was the
son of Edward VII — Queen Victoria's eldest son. Felipe VI is Queen Victoria's great-great-great
grandson — through both his father and his mother, who, as you've probably guessed, are also cousins.
Felipe's father, Juan Carlos, is the grandson of deposed Spanish king Alfonso XIII and his queen,
Ena. Ena was Queen Victoria's granddaughter through Victoria's youngest child, Beatrice.
Felipe's mother, Sofia, is the daughter of Paul of Greece, whose mother was Sophia of Prussia,
whose grandmother was Queen Victoria through Queen Victoria's eldest child,
Victoria. Still following?
Elizabeth and Felipe are also related to one another through another common ancestor:
King Christian IX of Denmark and his wife, Louise. Christian and Louise's daughter, Alexandra of
Greece and Denmark, married Edward VII, making these two Elizabeth's paternal great-grandparents.
Alexandra's brother, George I, was the grandfather of Paul, and Paul was Felipe's
maternal grandfather. Convoluted? Yep. A little messed-up? Sure — but that's royalty, for you.
"Boom."
When King Felipe of Spain was still the Prince of Asturias — the title given to the presumptive heir
to the Spanish throne — his skills as a yachtsman earned him a spot on Spain's 1992 Olympic sailing
team. Felipe and his team finished in sixth place during that year's games. He was also Spain's
flag-bearer during the opening ceremonies. And to say that his mother, the former Queen Sofía, was
proud would be something of an understatement. The queen was reported by Royal Central to be, quote,
"beaming with joy" from the stands, and even blew a kiss to Felipe as the parade passed by.
Notably, Sofía is also a former Olympic athlete.
She competed for Greece in the sailing competition at the 1960 games in Rome,
along with her brother and Felipe's uncle, Constantine II of Greece. Felipe's father, Juan
Carlos, also sailed for Team Spain as a young man. Clearly, a love of sailing runs in the family.
King Felipe's parents, both of whom descend from European monarchs,
once expected him to marry a Catholic princess. However, Felipe had other ideas. During his 20s,
his serious girlfriends included a Spanish socialite and an underwear model from Norway.
Certainly, Juan Carlos and Sofia probably never expected that Felipe would eventually
fall in love with a divorced woman raised by a journalist and a nurse whose only connection to
the monarchy was through her work as a reporter for Bloomberg News and CNN. Still, his parents
were likely at least pleased that the future Queen Letizia was, in fact, Catholic. Moreover,
because Letizia's first marriage had been officiated in a civil ceremony, it was not
recognized by the church and she therefore did not need an annulment to marry Felipe.
The two met in 2002, and, notwithstanding his parents' objections, they were married in 2004 in
a Catholic ceremony viewed by 25 million people. Their first child, Leonor, was born the next year,
followed by her younger sister Sofia. Because Spain still observes male-preference birthright,
Leonor could lose her place as future queen if her father were to produce a
son at any given time — just as Felipe's eldest sister Elena did when he was born.
Due to the king and queen's age, though, that seems unlikely.
King Felipe's father, Juan Carlos, began his reign in 1975 following the death of Francisco Franco.
Juan Carlos had been groomed to continue Franco's legacy upon the dictator's passing.
"Viva el Ray!"
"Viva!"
"Viva Espana"
"Viva!"
However, when Franco died, he reinstated the democratic system,
replaced Franco's anti-reformist prime minister, and saw to it that a Constitution was put in
place — one that didn't proffer unlimited power to any one person. In the meantime,
he fought off a number of attempted military coups that threatened to restore Franco's ideals.
For the first three decades of Juan Carlos' reign, Spain flourished. In fact, the country
prospered so much that when he spent great sums of his extraordinary wealth during this period,
it either didn't register with the people of Spain or they seemed willing to ignore it.
That all changed after the early aughts, however, as the bottom fell out of the economy in Spain.
The patience of the Spanish people was already being tried when white-collar
criminal allegations were levied against Juan Carlos' son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarín.
The monarch's lavish spending habits became more and more apparent, and, by the time Juan Carlos
announced his abdication, many were questioning the continuing viability of the Spanish monarchy.
In June 2014, Spain was in the throes of an economic crisis. The Spanish royal family was also
contending with white collar criminal allegations against Iñaki Urdangarín — accusations suggesting
that Juan Carlos had acted irresponsibly as his country was in trouble. On top of all that,
there were increasingly loud demands for secession by the people of Catalonia.
"It's nothing against the people, it's against Spanish government.
They've crossed a red line one, two, three times again."
Of course, the coronation of the Spanish monarch would normally call for an extravagant,
widely attended religious ceremony and celebration. But, in the face of all these issues,
King Felipe opted for something that was a little more low-key.
In fact, this wasn't so much a coronation as it was a proclamation
In June 2014, The Daily Mail published a piece about the Spanish royal family
under the reign of King Felipe. The tabloid wrote:
"They've been employing a recent display of frugality,
in keeping with the scale of the economic crisis facing Spain. And it seems [this] new austere
stance isn't about to change — even for the most important event in the past 40 years."
Although Europeans may be accustomed to elaborate coronations,
Felipe VI wasn't about to take any chances. He swore his oath in a subdued,
secular ceremony attended only by a select few politicians and family members.
Afterward, the newly crowned king, his wife, and their two daughters greeted the people
of Spain from the balcony of Zarzuela Palace. They were joined by both Juan Carlos and Sofia.
Low-key as it was, King Felipe's coronation was accompanied by
protests from some who wished to abolish the constitutional monarchy altogether
in favor of a straight-up democratic republic. Nevertheless, opinion polls from that time
indicated that Felipe had done much to improve the public perception of the royal family.
On the other hand, those polls also suggested a willingness on the part of the Spanish people
to put the continuation of the monarchy to a public referendum.
Following his budget-friendly coronation ceremony, Felipe attempted to win the
confidence of the Spanish people by working on a progressive political agenda. His focus
included transparency with regard to the monarchy, support of the LGBTQ community, and a more liberal
approach to the relationship between church and state. Further, in a bid to restore confidence
in the monarchy, Felipe imposed a strict code of conduct for members of the royal family.
And the official royal family was reduced to just six members: his parents, himself,
his wife, and their two daughters; nobody else in the family is to be regarded as "royal."
King Felipe has also devoted vast time and attention to addressing the political
fragmentation that was coming to Spain's forefront in 2014. Additionally, he has made attempts
to combat the Catalonian secession efforts that had plagued his reign from the get-go.
From the very beginning of his reign, King Felipe of Spain emphasized the importance of transparency
and integrity in all of the royal family's dealings. And he's been putting his money
where his mouth is, too, including a recent public disclosure of his own net worth.
Apparently, Felipe estimates this fortune to be worth around $2.8 million. In addition,
he also disclosed that most of that net worth — around $2.4 million — is made up
of securities and bank savings, only some of which are liquid. Meanwhile,
a smaller portion of about $325,000 exists in tangible objects such as art and jewelry.
It seems like King Felipe was simply getting ahead of the transparency game with these moves,
however. Just hours later, the Spanish government issued a decree
mandating that the royal household publish quarterly financial statements,
including its budget, all tenders made, all gifts received, and all charitable donations.
This obligation now applies equally to all of the members of the household, including senior staff.