BARCELONA – Mud splattered the cheek of Spain's monarch as survivors of catastrophic floods unleashed their fury in a barrage of muck and mire. Felipe VI took it, literally, on the chin, and his determination to stay and speak to the enraged crowd could redefine his reign.
It instantly became an iconic moment. But what it will mean remains to be seen.
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Spain’s royals, prime minister and the Valencian regional president were greeted by a crowd hurling mud and other debris on Sunday when they tried to visit Paiporta, where over 60 people perished in last week's floods. The deluge has killed over 200 people in Spain and shattered communities.
It was the officials' first visit to the devastated area.
Sticky brown globs hit Felipe on the face and all over his black jacket, while Queen Letizia's hands were streaked with the mud that, nearly a week after the floods, still coats street after street of the southern outskirts of Valencia city. Many in the crowd wielded the shovels they are using to dig out their homes.
The anger appeared directed not at the king specifically but at the entire state for its management of the worst natural disaster in Spain's living memory. The government is also saying there were far-right agitators among the locals, implying they wanted to go after the Socialist prime minister.
In any case, for Montserrat Nebrera, professor of constitutional law at the International University of Catalonia, the shocking sight of a muddied monarch could set a precedent for more fervent protests, since "never had such anger been shown to the king.”
Monarchists like Nebrera and even republicans agreed that Felipe, who holds a largely ceremonial position, cut the figure of a man of state. The king insisted that his bodyguards, who tried to cover him with umbrellas, let him get close to talk with residents, some of whom screamed “Get out!” and “Killers!” Letizia has likewise been praised for staying put and speaking with distraught people.
A monarch seen as aloof extends himself
“It could go down as the greatest day of Felipe’s reign,” Oriol Bartomeus, a political science professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told The Associated Press.
“If he had sought protection from his bodyguards and run away, now that would have been the darkest day of his reign. Instead he showed why he is king, demonstrating composure and serenity, and by getting as close as he could to the people.”
There is no doubt it was the most memorable moment of his reign.
The 56-year-old Felipe took over a Royal House whose reputation was in tatters after the financial and lifestyle scandals of his father, Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014. Earlier in his reign, Juan Carlos was loved or at least grudgingly respected after helping Spain’s restoration of democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. He was seen as down to earth and fun-loving compared to other European royals.
His son, by contrast, has been perceived as aloof, and has relied on Letizia, a former journalist, to help him run a relatively frugal palace in a nation where republican sentiment is strong.
Felipe heard some jeers when he took part in a tribute to the dead of the 2017 terror attack in Barcelona, but that was nothing compared to Sunday’s reception.
The prime minister and others were struck
On Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was whisked away by his security detail after he also was pelted. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said “there was a clear danger and (Sánchez) had received a blow.”
The back window of the prime minister’s car was broken. The minister did not specify what hit the prime minister. One of Letizia’s bodyguards had a bloody forehead.
An investigative judge has opened a preliminary probe into possible assault.
Felipe stood his ground for over half an hour. It was impossible to hear what was said, but he spoke to several shouting people in an intimate and apparently serious tone.
Bartomeus, who said he is not a fervent defender of the monarchy, noted what the king didn’t do: He didn’t appear to patronize the people.
“He didn’t console the people, like for example you see the British royals do,” Bartomeus said. Instead, “he dialogued with them. He put the state on his back, got down off the pedestal and went down to the people who were telling him that the state had not arrived, and he told them that it will.”
Did Felipe's involvement promise more than he can deliver?
Later Sunday, Felipe attended a gathering of the heads of the emergency response in Valencia, along with Sánchez and other politicians. He asked them to give “hope to those affected by the flood and attend to their needs, guaranteeing that the state is there for them.” On Monday, he presided over the government's crisis committee at a military airbase outside Madrid.
But that, Nebrera said, could compound his problems.
In going to Paiporta with elected officials, Nebrera said, Felipe has created the impression that he has a real role to play in managing the gargantuan recovery effort, when his powers are mostly representing Spain on state visits and playing an institutional role in the post-election process.
In other words, it looks like he owns it.
“If there already existed a certain confusion among some people as to what powers the king has, now he runs the danger of people thinking he is responsible for something which he is not,” she said.
“It is very likely that regardless of how many meetings he presides over, there will be nothing but more bad news coming from Valencia. They are only going to find more and more of the dead.”