19.06.2014 - 01:23
Just like Juan Carlos, and just as Dictator Franco always appeared, the new Spanish king, Felipe VI will attend the proclamation session dressed in military attire, as head of the Spanish Army. After receiving military honors, he will enter the Congress, where Jesús Posada, the president of the chamber will give a speech, followed by a speech from the new king. But there are notable absences from the ceremony.
To begin with, among the guests there won’t even be the king who has abdicated, Felipe’s father Juan Carlos. According to the royal household, this is a way of “keeping the spotlight” on his son.
There are other important absences among the Spanish royal family, for example that of Cristina of Bourbon. In this case, the reason is very clear: they don’t want to ruin the photograph of the coronation with the image of Juan Carlos’ daughter, who has been called to give testimony in the Nóos case, along with her husband Iñaki Urdangarín.
At the ceremony, there will be no international heads of state as guests. There will be party leaders from the Spanish State, including CiU, despite the fact that they abstained in the vote on the abdication law. The president of the Catalan government, Artur Mas, will also be there, despite the trip that he took this week to the United States. After saying that he wasn’t sure if he would be able to attend, Mas decided to shorten his trip and head toward Madrid “out of institutional respect and to be neighborly”. Presidents of the Valencian Generalitat, Alberto Fabra, and the Government of the Balearic Islands, José Ramón Bauzà, will also attend.
However, no representatives will be present from ERC, ICV, Esquerra Unida, Compromís, Chunta Aragonesista, Amaiur, BNG or Geroa Bai.
