MADRID (AP) — During a diplomatic encounter on Monday, Spain’s King Felipe VI acknowledged that his nation’s historical colonization of the Americas contained significant wrongdoing and moral problems, offering a more diplomatic approach to ongoing tensions with Mexico regarding centuries-old colonial injustices.
The monarch delivered these comments during a conversation with Mexico’s Spanish ambassador, Quirino Ordaz, at a Madrid museum showcasing an exhibit focused on women’s roles in pre-Columbian Mexican society.
Reflecting on Spain’s historical conquest activities, Felipe VI stated: “There are things that, when we study them, we come to know them, and well, with our current values, they obviously cannot make us feel proud.”
“But they must be understood in their proper context, not with excessive moral presentism, but with an objective and rigorous analysis,” he said.
These symbolic statements from the Bourbon monarch follow years of diplomatic friction between the two nations stemming from Mexico’s insistence that Spain formally apologize for its 1519-1521 Mexican conquest, which led to widespread deaths among the country’s pre-Hispanic communities.
Former Mexican leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent correspondence to both King Felipe and Pope Francis in 2019, requesting that Spain “publicly and officially” acknowledge the wrongs committed during Mexico’s conquest period. Spain’s rejection of this demand deteriorated governmental relationships between both countries.
Diplomatic relations further soured in 2024 when current Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum excluded King Felipe from her inauguration ceremony due to the royal palace’s continued refusal to offer a formal apology. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez characterized this exclusion as “unacceptable,” leading Spain to boycott Sheinbaum’s inauguration entirely.
However, diplomatic ice began melting last autumn when Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares recognized the “pain and injustice” experienced by Mexico’s Indigenous communities under Spanish colonial rule. These statements occurred at the opening of the same museum exhibition the king visited Monday.
“There has been pain, pain and injustice toward the indigenous peoples to whom this exhibition is dedicated,” Albares said.
Sheinbaum viewed the foreign minister’s statements positively, describing them as initial progress and noting that “this is the first time that a Spanish government authority has spoken of regretting the injustice.”
The king’s recent statements do not represent an official royal palace apology from Spain. Sheinbaum indicated Monday that she requires time to evaluate his comments.
