Eduardo González
The King and Queen presided this Friday, November 21, over the ceremony bestowing the Order of the Golden Fleece upon Queen Sofía, former Prime Minister Felipe González, and the two living “fathers” of the 1978 Constitution, Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón and Miquel Roca i Junyent.
The ceremony took place at the Royal Palace in Madrid and was presided over by King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor of Asturias, and Infanta Sofía. Among those in attendance were Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez; First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance María Jesús Montero; Minister of the Presidency, Justice, and Relations with the Cortes Félix Boñaños; Minister of Defense Margarita Robles; and Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska. and the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres.
The Princess of Asturias herself received the Collar of the Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece from King Felipe VI in 2018, an Order that has been awarded for centuries—among others and uniquely—to the Prince or Princess of Asturias from a very young age.
In this ceremony, the Monarch bestowed the Collar of the Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece upon Queen Sofía, for “her dedication and commitment to the service of Spain and the Crown.” “Thank you for your sustained commitment for decades, still today, and exercised with a profound sense of duty,” Felipe VI stated, addressing his mother during his speech.
Likewise, the King bestowed the Order of the Golden Fleece upon Felipe González Márquez, Prime Minister between 1982 and 1996, for “his dedication and commitment to the service of Spain, the Crown, and the integration of our country into Europe and the international community.” The King presented awards to Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñón for “his dedication and commitment to the service of Spain and the Crown, through his efforts to promote coexistence and constitutional order”; and to Miquel Roca i Junyent for “his dedication and commitment to the service of Spain and the Crown, through his efforts to promote coexistence and constitutional order.”
In his speech, the Monarch remembered “that generation of the Transition,” which “had the enormous courage to assume its responsibility and commit to what Spain needed at that historical moment” and which “knew how to reconcile the desire for change with the existing legal order, finding in reform the path to democracy.”
“What they achieved was not only a legal and political victory, but also a civic and moral one: proof that great national transformations can be achieved through agreement, responsibility, and mutual trust,” added Felipe VI, who also paid tribute to the other drafters of the Constitution, such as Gabriel Cisneros, Gregorio Peces-Barba, José Pedro Pérez-Llorca, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, and Jordi Solé Tura.
The King also remembered his father, Juan Carlos I—who was not invited to the event due to his decision in 2019 to withdraw from the official agenda of the Royal Household—who, he affirmed, contributed “decisively to paving the way for democracy in our country.”
The Order of the Golden Fleece
The Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece was created in 1429 by Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy, on the occasion of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal. Linked to the family, and not to the Duchy of Burgundy, it passed, through the marriage of Duchess Maria to Emperor Maximilian, to his grandson, Emperor Charles V. Since then, the Kings of Spain have been the Sovereigns and Grand Masters of the Order.
The Collar of the Order, inspired by the myth of Jason, consists of a gold collar bearing the arms of the Dukes of Burgundy, from which hangs the Golden Fleece, also in gold. The collars are the property of the Order, to which they must be returned upon the death of each Knight. Sovereigns and members of Royal Families, as well as prominent figures from the aristocracy, politics, and military, both Spanish and foreign, have received the Golden Fleece since its founding. The number of Collars awarded since then totals approximately 1,200.
In 1985, King Juan Carlos bestowed the Order of the Golden Fleece for the first time upon two reigning female sovereigns, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and in 1989 it was awarded to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
During his reign, King Juan Carlos granted the Order of the Golden Fleece to the Prince of Asturias; Nicolás de Cotoner y Cotoner, Marquis of Mondéjar; Torcuato Fernández Miranda, Duke of Fernández Miranda; José María Pemán Permartín; Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden; Jean I, Grand Duke of Luxembourg; Olav V, King of Norway; Akihito, Emperor of Japan; Hussein, King of Jordan; Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands; Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark; Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom; and Beltrán Osorio y Díez de Rivera, Duke of Albuquerque. Albert II, King of the Belgians; Harald V, King of Norway; Simeon Saxe-Coburg, Prime Minister of Bulgaria; Bhumibol, King of Thailand; Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg; Adolfo Suárez González, Duke of Suárez; Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and King of Saudi Arabia; Javier Solana Madariaga; Víctor García de la Concha; Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic; and Enrique V. Iglesias.
Following the bestowal of the Collars of the Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece, Their Majesties the King and Queen proceeded to the Congress of Deputies, where they presided over the ceremony commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the restoration of the Monarchy in Spain. A panel discussion entitled “50 Years Later: The Crown in the Transition to Democracy” was also held.
