TW
3

The Spanish Civil War, until rather recently, was airbrushed out of the Spanish school curriculum and it was the topic of very few books and films. Even the Spanish academics agree that the most knowledgeable people on the Civil War are the British historians Antony Beevor and Paul Preston. The latter I have interviewed a number of times and he agrees that, deep down, Spain is still a Republican country. The previous monarchs, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, were extremely popular (and still are) for a number of reasons.
It was Juan Carlos who presided over the transition to democracy and, on the whole, most Spaniards were what became known as "Juan Carlistas" as opposed to monarchists, fans of him but not the institution and that is the battle King Felipe VI and his wife Letizia, who does her best to appeal to the masses but struggles, are still trying to win.
But, as we have seen over the past few days just here in Palma, the Republicans have been out flying the celebrations of the 85th anniversary of the Second Republic, with Palma Council allowing Republican flags to be flown from some of its offices - remember there are Republicans in government now.
And there is the row over the demolition of the Sa Feixina monument to Balearic Nationalist sailors who died in the Civil War. This is good for Spain because they are now learning and talking about their modern history. I am not too sure about the monarchy, however.