This was an extreme situation in which the mechanisms of artifice and protection that usually surround the monarchy during his public appearances. For the first time, the Kings could be seen without the armor required by protocol. The hurricane of indignation destroyed this border and the cameras filmed. Their Majesties, revealed.
In this age of papier-mâché politics, the film filmed by television news services spread like wildfire for one fundamental reason: what was happening there was true. In these images, Philip VI He passed the exam he had trained for all his life. But it happened too Letizia Ortizwho is now the queen, but twenty years ago she was a journalist and said things like that.
He could have been hit in the head by a stone. He ignored his security team when they asked him to take refuge in the car. He wanted to be hugged, insulted, complained and confused. His former colleagues could read more on his face than others. EL ESPAÑOL interviewed three of them who still maintain today this friendship born in the streets and in the editorial offices.
Mary King she is a presenter today 120 minuteson Telemadrid, as well as president of the Press Association of Madrid. Ruiz de Apodaca Sagrarionow editor-in-chief of TVE’s Canal 24 Horas, also met the Queen on the public channel. Imma Aguilarcommunications policy advisor, now head of the Amazonas consulting firm, became friends during his time at CNN+.
“Nothing surprised me,” the three say without hesitation when asked about the courage Letizia showed. And all three add a similar slogan: it was not a matter of conscious or premeditated courage; was a consequence of empathy. “She knows how to listen, she is a journalist, she has covered the terrain, it was impossible for her to escape,” they agree.
“We would have seen this queen sooner if we hadn’t wasted so much time on the shoes,” quips María Rey. “The Queen is not a cold person. She is a perfectionist, she has the serious expression of someone who demands a lot of herself, but she is extremely empathetic. If ever she seemed cold, it is because she protected herself from sexist and classist criticism,” he adds.
Letizia, we said at the start of the report, had not spent her whole life preparing for a moment like this. Or maybe he had prepared, albeit in a different way. María Rey continues: “Precisely, by not having received this education in the manner of a royal house, she put herself even more in the place of the citizens of Paiporta. She is the daughter of a family of middle classof modest origins. I understood what could have happened to him. “He understood what we were saying to him.”
Rey reiterates that Letizia, despite being immersed in the royal environment for two decades, “did not detach herself from her previous world, she did everything possible to stay in touch with reality.”
“It’s not a posture”
“The Queen is a journalist and journalism is like riding a bike. There is something visceral about those who have practiced journalism on the streets. She has done this type of live broadcast, she has traveled to the war, she was in the Prestige…Something very journalistic came out of it. He touched reality in a very direct way. Call it bravery or racing. He didn’t think of anything, he let himself go,” says Imma Aguilar.
Sagrario Ruiz de Apodaca follows the same line: “When she was our partner, she had to cover emergency situations, put on her boots, overalls and stain of Chapapote. He knew very clearly where he needed to be. “This is what gives meaning to their responsibility.”
Contrary to those who argue that Letizia usually shows an indecipherable gesture, Imma Aguilar, who met her at the end of the 90s at the entrance casting of CNN+, denies the major: “It seems to me that she has a rather readable, very sincere. “He couldn’t stop crying. I’m sure he was trying to hold it back, but he couldn’t. And that’s okay.”
In addition to this unleashed empathy, Aguilar detects another quality in the images of the Queen: “She, I am sure you have already been told, is very perfectionist. She is a queen, pardon the dismissal, very professional. I also felt his keen sense of responsibility.”
María Rey defines it as “a very internalized commitment”: “It is not a posture. Both she and the King are aware of the task that awaits them. The Queen is very involved in what concerns her. His speeches are of extraordinary capacity, both in substance and in form. It’s not easy to find something like that in the rest of the European monarchies, but she internalized that she had to be in the service of Spain. .
“They went there knowing what might happen. I’m sure they would have continued the visit at chiva despite what happened in Paiporta. This surprised me, but I fear that it is not up to them,” says Ruiz de Apodaca.
This editor-in-chief of Canal 24 Horas praises that the Kings went there to “accept criticism”, and not to try to convince the people of anything. unworthy. María Rey underlines the same thing through a gesture: “This sincere embrace to the woman who reproaches him for having abandoned them… The queen repeats ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry’. with words that she agrees with.” for this woman, it is sharing the general helplessness of the people.
The three companions of journalist Letizia talk about a person hot when the cameras turn off… the woman that millions of people met this Sunday. “When we had personal difficulties, she took care to make a gesture to us. She is intense, passionate,” says Rey.
“We saw her several times listening, hugging, touching… without such urgency being necessary,” say Ruiz de Apodaca. “These were genuine gestures,” Aguilar concludes.
