Royal watchers around the world have been having a field day with regards to the up and downstairs goings on in the British royal family over the past few years, well decades in fact, just look at the global success of the series The Crown which looks as though it’s got so much material it is going to continue running.
However, European royal families have been, and are, having a hard time in general and the spotlight is firmly on the Spanish monarchy. The fact that the former king has done a runner to the Middle East and managed to have ducked a number of potential court cases and investigations into his finances, has done little to help his son, Felipe VI, who is doing his best to restore faith and belief in the Spanish royal family.
The day before yesterday he and Queen Letizia caught a public bus in Madrid to help mark the service’s 75th anniversary. However, the media was quick to point out it was the first time the king had apparently caught a public bus in his life, although the queen had taken plenty of such trips in her youth before she became royalty.
The Platform of Independent Media holds an annual poll. The latest results shows that in a monarchy versus republic referendum, 39.4% would vote republic, 31% monarchy, while 29.6% would not vote, vote informal or are undecided and this has given some far left parties grounds to call for an official referendum.