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Spanish Crown Is Losing Its Luster

By ILAN BRAT

MADRID—Spain's King Juan Carlos I and his family have long been one of the most drama-free monarchies in Europe, but lately, a series of embarrassing incidents have shaken the Spanish royal family, undercutting public confidence in the monarchy as Spain is in the teeth of the most bruising economic crisis in its modern history.

In late February, Spanish authorities called the king's son-in-law to testify regarding fraud allegations related to his financial dealings. An investigative judge alleges that, among other things, he diverted public funds to for-profit companies he and associates controlled when he was the head of a nonprofit consultancy in the mid-2000s. He hasn't been charged and maintains his innocence.

Reuters

Spain's King Juan Carlos I at the Spanish Civil Guard in Algeciras, Spain.

In early April, the king's 13-year-old grandson shot himself in the foot with a small-caliber shotgun during target practice on a country estate. He was under Spain's legal age to carry such a weapon. Within days, the king himself required hip surgery for a fall he suffered during an elephant-hunting trip in Botswana. The injury focused public attention on what many considered an extravagant junket—prompting what appeared to be the king's first public apology for his conduct.

The incidents have surfaced simmering resentments and subjected the royals to some uncharacteristic public criticism in the press. An editorial in the center-right El Mundo newspaper, the country's second largest, called the king's trip "irresponsible at the most inopportune moment."

A monarch has governed Spain during nearly all of its modern history, and King Juan Carlos I was seen as a stabilizing force following the death in 1975 of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco. The king helped fend off an attempted military coup in 1981 and supported the rapid legalization of the anti-royalist Communist Party and has enjoyed high popular affection. Today, the king's day-to-day activities are largely ceremonial.

But the segment of Spanish society that questions the monarchy's legitimacy has grown amid economic crisis. Spaniards' confidence in the institution fell below an average of 5 out of 10 for the first time in an October survey by the state-owned Center for Sociological Investigations, considered to be the country's most authoritative polling body.

"The Spanish monarchy had this very strong political use at the beginning [of Spain's return to democracy] and then found it very hard to find something else to do," said author Tom Burns Marañón, who has written extensively about the king.

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He and others say the royal family's recent dramas could hinder the king's ability to help grease the gears of Spain's young democracy by serving as a relatively neutral liaison between political leaders. Without a monarch in good standing, these people worry, Spain could risk facing political gridlock and fracturing as it has amid previous experiences with republican governance.

A spokesman for the monarchy noted that economic crisis has suppressed Spaniards' confidence in all major institutions, with the monarchy still remaining among the most trusted, according to internal research and public data. The spokesman blamed the questions surrounding the financial affairs of the king's son-in-law, in particular, for helping spark criticism.

The spokesman said that starting late last year, the monarchy began working to become more transparent, publicizing, for example, the total remuneration of the king and prince (€292,752 and €146,376, respectively, in 2011, it said—or about $370,000 and $185,000). "We're aware that things have changed, and the monarchy needs to adapt to the new age," he said.

Defenders of the royals also say the king is still proving to be an effective advocate for Spanish interests abroad. He maintains close links with royals in the Middle East, where Spain buys substantial amounts of oil, and helps shepherd access for Spanish companies in Latin America and elsewhere. He was instrumental in helping a consortium of Spanish companies this year secure the large contract to build a high-speed train line between Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia. And recently, the heads of many of Spain's largest companies, which have substantial operations in Latin America, traveled with him to Brazil and Chile to talk about doing more business with those countries.

Critics say the recent dramas have demonstrated that the royals' lives are too distant from their subjects' reality. They complain that while commoners are facing deep cuts in health care, education and other government services, the monarchy's government allotment will decline only 2% in 2012.

"These people live a cushy life and aren't accountable to anybody," says Luis Rodríguez-Avello, a 32-year-old environmental consultant in Madrid. The monarchy is "totally out of place in this day and age."

Monarchists lament the popular disaffection with the institution. Some say the royal family is uniquely situated to comfort Spain during national tragedies and to help bind together a highly decentralized country strained by undercurrents of regionalist pride.

"Spaniards are very patriotic about cured Spanish ham, but not for the things that really matter," says Arturo Díaz, 40, who was laid off in December from his job with a cruise-line operator. "It's a country that has little appreciation for its own history."

The press may be playing a role in rising criticism of the institution. Unlike, say, journalists in England, Spanish journalists traditionally treated King Juan Carlos I and his family with kid gloves, leaving their personal lives largely uncovered aside from officially sanctioned fare, says Alejandro Navas, a sociology professor at the University of Navarre.

Criticizing the king and his family was taboo because he was seen as essential for upholding Spain's democracy. But in recent years, as the king began criticizing Spain's press for irresponsible behavior, the pact with the press started breaking down, Mr. Navas says. The extensive, and often critical, coverage of the recent dramas is the latest example.

Antiroyalists see a tide slowly moving in their favor. Eugenio Sanz Martín, 82, says that when he started his online Bazar Tricolor shop in Madrid in the early 2000s, each month he sold about one flag commemorating the Spanish Republic of the 1930s. Sales grew slowly for years. Several months ago they rose to a couple of orders a day.

"We are winning the battle," says Mr. Sanz Martín, "even though it's not a fast fight."