Catalonia is second most visited territory by Spanish monarchs since King Felipe VI's coronation

Since Spain's King Felipe VI handed the Girona Prince Foundation awards on June 26, 2014, the Spanish monarchs have visited Catalonia dozens of times. That was his first event after his coronation ten years ago.

During this decade, the Borbones family has made over 150 appearances in Catalonia, just behind Madrid, with around 2,000 acts.

In 2014, in Girona, Felipe VI had to face a pro-republican demonstration, something which continued on during the following years. However, the tone has been calmer recently, as, since 2022, the monarchs have visited Catalonia more times than in the five previous years combined.

2017 marked the peak of the Catalan independence push. On October 3, 2017, two days after the self-determination referendum, which was deemed illegal by Spanish authorities, King Felipe VI addressed Spain in a speech that was not well greeted among Catalans.

In fact, in that year, the total number of visits was around 20, mainly with acts related to the 2017 terrorist attack in La Rambla boulevard and Cambrils, the 25th anniversary of the 1992 Olympic Games, or the Mobile World Congress. All of them took place before October 2017, and the next visit was not until February 2018, during the traditional pre-MWC dinner.

 

After analyzing the Royal House annual data by the Catalan News Agency (ACN), Madrid has hosted around 1,900 appearances of the Spanish monarchs, out of the almost 3,000 registered between King Felipe VI, Queen Letízia, their daughters, former Spanish King Juan Carlos, and Queen Sofía.

Most of these acts took place at the Zarzuela Palace, their home.

Catalonia hosted around 5.1% of the events, followed by Spain's northern region of Asturias, 5%, as Leonor is the Princess of Asturias, and Andalusia with 4.7%. None of the other regions reach the 2.5% mark.