From Isabel II to Juan Carlos I, how countries relate to their history

Europe has lost its beloved grandmother.

We're all going to mourn her.

Her extravagant colored hats, her bag always hanging on her arm as only she knew how to carry it, her unflappable smile, her sense of humor.

It is a page of our history that remains behind.

Today we all woke up a little orphaned.

The monarchy allows great moments of national communion, much more than a republic and even more than football.

The exemplarity and longevity of Elizabeth II make this communion transcend the borders of Great Britain.

It is all of Europe, a Europe in the midst of an economic crisis and at war, that is going to share the emotion of the queen's funeral, from Volodímir Zelenski to Emmanuel Macron.

There is no society if there is no transcendence and her death gives us the opportunity of an enormous and useful injection of fraternity and cohesion.

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Last minute of the death of Elizabeth II live

Immediately after ascending the throne, the young queen asked General de Gaulle for advice.

"Be the person around whom everything in his kingdom is organized, in whom his people see the homeland and whose presence and dignity contribute to national unity," he replied.

Elizabeth II has perfectly fulfilled her royal mission.

She was lucky to be praised during her lifetime, a rare privilege enjoyed by few historical figures.

Winston Churchill himself lost an election after the Second World War and De Gaulle retired to live in solitude after the events of May 1968. But last June's Jubilee celebrations were an explosion of pride and recognition of a country towards his queen.

The disappointments and criticisms that she may have provoked in the past - her distant attitude towards her after the death of Diana of Wales,

Do the Spaniards have the same capacity for forgiveness and commemoration?

Their way of rejecting King Juan Carlos and criticizing the Transition seems to indicate that they prefer division and self-destruction.

Because, if we put aside for a moment the blindness of emotions, Elizabeth II presided over the end of an empire, while Juan Carlos I presided over the expansion of Spain.

She inherited a Britain of world dimensions;

he inherited a country that had spent 40 years closed in on itself, economically and culturally backward compared to its European neighbors.

During the reign of Elizabeth II, Britain shrank to the point that it has been an island again since Brexit;

During Juan Carlos, Spain expanded and reintegrated itself on the international scene.

She did not have to forge a democracy and then save it from a coup.

The Spanish monarchy is the only one that has played a similar political role in contemporary times.

And yet, that exceptional role did not give her enough strength.

Elizabeth II was strong enough to dare to arrive at the Westminster Abbey mass in honor of her husband, Prince Philip, on the arm of her son, Prince Andrew, entangled in sordid crimes, much more reprehensible trouble than an elephant hunt and a bank account in Switzerland.

In this way, the queen assumed that the monarchy is a human power.

That is what gives her charm and creates a personal bond between the sovereign and his country.

Contrary to what happens with the cold power of our contemporary technocracies.

But since he is human, he is fallible.

Juan Carlos I is an example of this.

Although, as monarchs,

The time of the kings is not measured by electoral periods nor is it guided by polls, but is part of a longer time, that of History.

Great Britain planned these funeral acts decades ago.

How will Spain bury her emeritus king?

Will her death of him be an emotional moment of national and global communion?

It is time for Spain to reflect and reconcile with its own history, beyond the political war between the left and the right.

Laurence Debray

is a writer, her latest book is

(Debate).

Translation by

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