Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S royal family has plenty of detractors, in particular in areas that have historically wanted independence such as Catalunya and the Basque Country. But figures suggest that Spaniards are actually getting a lot of bang for their buck when it comes to King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.
According to an analysis carried out by British website UFO No More, the Spanish royals racked up the most days of official acts in public among all of their European counterparts.
King Felipe, for example, spent 194 days out of the office. That’s compared to King Philippe of Belgium, who managed 150 days and came in second on the ranking.
Queen Letizia, meanwhile, managed 123 days, coming seventh on the list and above Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who totalled 119.
In total, the Spanish royal family worked in public during 219 days in 2022, which is 60% of the year, according to figures cited by Spanish daily El Español.
It should be pointed out that the article focuses exclusively on the days when the Spanish royals appeared at events, and there are many other days when they are dedicated to tasks out of the public eye.
The figures also revealed that 2022 was a busy year for the former queen, Sofia, Felipe’s mother. She attended 25 acts in 2022 compared to the 21 the year before.
Not on the list, of course, is her husband, the disgraced former king Juan Carlos I. He has been living in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi since 2020 after a series of scandals.
One of his rare appearances last year was at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, something that caused a storm of controversy in Spain at the time given Felipe’s efforts to distance the royal family from his father’s toxic legacy.
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