The Spanish Royal Family and the October Flooding in Spain


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The Spanish Royal Family and the October Flooding in Spain


Please use this thread to post news and information regarding visits and events associated with members of the Spanish RF in association with the October Flooding in Spain

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Flag at half mast at the Zarzuela Palace.

Yesterday, King Felipe VI held a video conference with the Military Emergency Unit to learn first-hand about the situation in the areas affected by the floods.

Message from Grand Duke Henri to the King of Spain following the terrible floods that have hit the east of the country:


Reaction of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima to the flooding and the damage in southeastern Spain:


According to the Royal Household, King Felipe VI has given instructions to the Security Service of the Royal House and to the Royal Guard to make all necessary personnel available to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence to collaborate in the tasks being carried out by the State Security Forces and Corps and the UME in the areas affected by the DANA.


King Philippe of the Belgians was in contact with King Felipe VI following the terrible floods that hit Spain.
 
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A terrible, terrible tragedy. We had a similar event in Germany in 2021, 135 people dead, thousands of houses, streets etc damaged or destroyed by catastrophic floods. 3 years later the survivors are still struggling and there is an ongoing blame game of who is responsible, politicians, flood desaster management etc, disgraceful.
 
The King and Queen will visit the areas most affected by the DANA this weekend

The King and Queen will travel this weekend to the areas most affected by the DANA and have already contacted the mayors of the municipalities that have suffered the most damage, according to sources from Zarzuela.

Their visit will be carried out in such a way that it does not interfere with the work being carried out by the emergency services, local police, the State Security Forces and also the Armed Forces and social organisations, according to the sources.

The King and Queen have already spoken with the mayors of the Valencian municipalities of Paiporta, Utiel and Sedaví, and Letur (Albacete).


 
King Mohammed VI sends condolence message to King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia following Valencia Floods.


Message from Margareta, Custodian of the Crown:

Message from Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy:
 
A terrible, terrible tragedy. We had a similar event in Germany in 2021, 135 people dead, thousands of houses, streets etc damaged or destroyed by catastrophic floods. 3 years later the survivors are still struggling and there is an ongoing blame game of who is responsible, politicians, flood desaster management etc, disgraceful.
I fear the same will happen in Spain. The catastrophe is enormous and already some opposition politicians are getting into the blame game trying to score points on the tragedy.

The Military Emergency Unit has been fully deployed in Valencia with another 500 military personnel joining today. Spain is resilient and very effective under difficult circumstances. We have a strong community sense and very good logistics. The problem is the storm is not letting go, is literally still feeding itself in too many parts of Spain, including still the Valencia's autonomous region.
 
The King holds an extraordinary meeting with Pedro Sánchez to analyze the situation caused by the DANA


King Felipe VI expresses his solidarity to Torrent

King Felipe VI has expressed his solidarity to the municipality of Torrent. He did so through a telephone call with the mayor, Amparo Folgado. The contact, which took place on Friday morning, was marked "by the warmth and solidarity" of the Head of State, who expressed "his empathy in the face of the serious damage suffered by Torrent and his support for the municipality in this difficult moment," according to a statement from the council.

 
Terrible! There are, I understand, entire villages they haven't been able to reach yet. In one of them, reports here in DK says, the situation is catastrophic. There is no village left.
The official death toll until now is nearing 200, but again according to the reports, that number may double when they finally reach that village.
And more rain is coming, it seems.
 
I really feel for everyone involved, humans, animals, so much suffering. In Germany, after 3 years, the Ahrtal has not gone back to normal. A lot of infrastructure is still on provisional basis, people are still traumatized, you can see empty spaces, broken houses, construction going on ... they estimate 10 years until back to 'normal'. Most people remain disappointed and frustrated with the authorities, many had insurance but they refuse to pay because it was 'act of god', people dont have the stamina for year long lawsuits, losing faith in politics and worse ... I really do hope that Spain will do a better crisis managment than we did here.

Of course now its about first aid and response, but it is even more important what comes after ... in one, two, three years, the danger of being forgotten.
 
The last city I lived in experienced a similar flood in 2013. We were two streets away from the flood zone, where people eventually had to have their houses demolished, and escaped with only minor damage to our roof. I am living somewhere else now, but still get anxious when we have heavy rain, even after 11 years.

The people and regions impacted here will eventually recover, but this experience will leave terrible scars for years to come, both physical and emotional.

Unfortunately, events such as these are probably going to become less rare and more normal, given the accumulating impact of climate change.
 
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Message from King Charles III of United Kingdom:

The King and Queen of Spain thank all the messages of condolence and support from Heads of State, leaders and international authorities.


King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will visit the area affected by the DANA on Sunday with Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain, and Carlos Arturo Mazón, President of the Generalitat Valenciana.

Don Felipe will preside over the Crisis Committee on Monday to monitor the catastrophe.
 
The President of the autonomous region of Valencia FINALLY pushed the button to get the full resources of the government of Spain. 10,000 troops are being deployed in Valencia in the biggest deployment of military in our country in peace times.

In the meantime, thousands of volunteer civilians coming from all over Spain are helping with cleaning. The civilian help has been so massive that the autonomous region is now restricting their movement to the worst affected areas, where heavy machinery is being deployed.

Letizia and Felipe are visiting the area this weekend. They are, like the rest of us, dealing with the shock. Felipe put the royal guard at the disposal of the government if they were needed in Valencia.

Terrible! There are, I understand, entire villages they haven't been able to reach yet. In one of them, reports here in DK says, the situation is catastrophic. There is no village left.
The official death toll until now is nearing 200, but again according to the reports, that number may double when they finally reach that village.
And more rain is coming, it seems.
Some villages sustaining the worst of the storm were impossible to reach. They had 445 litres per square metre in 8 hours. It's beyond governments to be able to deal with this freak of nature.

Help is finally getting thru but it's going to take years to deal with the aftermath. Spain has always had these t;type of storms, we call them the "gota fria" but it's never been so extraordinarily destructive as what's happened in Valencia.

Rescue services have been working hard and hopefully there won't be double the death people as the numbers we have now.
 
The visit of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia to the areas of Valencia affected by the DANA, today.







 
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BREAKING:
In Valencia, there is a lot of tension in the visit of the King and Queen, they are showing it on RTVE. The visit may have to be cancelled!

The Royal House confirmed that Felipe and Letizia will continue their visit to Valencia.
 
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People frustration and anger always target the highest institutional person in the land. Felipe has been very brave walking in the worst affected areas in Valencia knowing the reception wouldn't be friendly. He's doing what he needs to do, even if he is the target of people's anger.

Apparently the political visit has been cancelled but Felipe has not left. He is talking with people in Paiporta, the worst affected town in
Valencia, while security are doing their best to protect him.

He needs to do this. People can throw mud at him but he needs to stay put, take it and continue to talk to neighbours.
 
Currently on vacation in Jamaica and the horrible scenes and reactions of the angry crowds have made even the local news here.

People are rightfully angry and upset. I agree with the above sentiments that King Felipe needs to stay put provided he is SAFE. The people need to see him there in the trenches and visiting those affected by the disaster. When all is said and done and when the high emotions and tensions have cooled off it will be said "The King was there!"
 

The angry scenes have even made headlines in the UK
Was picked up in the Netherlands as well.

Glad to read that both the king and queen do what they need to do and stay and talk to the most affected to hear from them what the impact is and what they need in this moment and the time to come.
 
Very brave (but right) of them to stay and carry on. Whilst it is not always the case it is rare here in the UK for open anger to be directed at the royals on such visits. It is often why the government prefers the royals to visit before any government ministers as they are seen as not involved in the way government ministers obviously are. Interesting how things are different between countries, though this of course is a much larger tragedy than many recent ones in the UK.
I also read in numerous places that Felipe at least was accompanied by the Prime Minister and that much of the anger was aimed at him but obviously Felipe was caught up in it. Maybe going it alone without government ministers would help calm things down.
 
The SRF have always been standing by their people in case of catastrophe, JC and Sofia have done it back in the days and Felipe and Letizia do it now. They do it very well with true empathy, it is expected of them that they see this through and in the end it will be very much appreciated. The Royal House is there to stay, in contrast to Sanchez, who fled the scene in a car, chased and heckled by a crowd.
But he will be long gone from office when these people are still struggling with the long term repercussions of this terrible event.

German BILD - Spaniards throw mud and stones at their Kings.
 
It's brave of them to carry on. It's unfortunate that the anger is being directed at Felipe and Letizia, rather than at the politicians, but it's understandable that people are upset. It doesn't seem to have been handled very well by the authorities.
 
Since they announced the visit of the King and Queen and that the President of the Government and the President of the Geralitat were going to accompany them, it was clear that the politicians were using the King to hide. They did not dare to visit the area alone and used the King and Queen to hide behind, putting them in danger because the attacks and insults were directed at the politicians.

 
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People are outraged, it is the biggest natural catastrophe that has happened in Spain since records have been recorded. But the revolt is not against the King, but against the government, but the King was involved and caught the revolt.
Spain has a great King who wanted to continue his visit while the Prime Minister fled.
Meanwhile, it has already been announced that the second part of the visit has been cancelled. But I think Felipe and Letizia are still there.

 
Leadership is not for the faint hearted. You have to have thick skin and you have to check your ego at the door. You need the courage in your beliefs when confronted with very tough raw human emotions and problems. Good for them for confronting the ire of the people head on.
 
The Royals are absorbing the wrath that is directed to those responsible, the politicians, who dont have the guts to go there and accept the role of a punching ball. After the German desaster, the responsible minister for environment of the federal state went on her planned holiday, for 4 weeks. She had to resign later on but it shows the mindset of those who should face being responsible and be there for those affected.
 
Leadership is not for the faint hearted. You have to have thick skin and you have to check your ego at the door. You need the courage in your beliefs when confronted with very tough raw human emotions and problems. Good for them for confronting the ire of the people head on.
So very true. How the King and Queen continue to respond to the situation will be vital in the coming days and weeks . It’s one of the rare situations where people look to royals as the head of state to demonstrate leadership and compassion. Prime ministers come and go, but the monarch has to be able to endure whatever the changing moods and inclinations of the people. It strikes me from the footage of their visit so far that their response goes beyond duty but rather they are reaching out with compassion. I hope they will continue to take the difficult path and involve themselves in the terrible tragedy that has afflicted their people.
 
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