Not among some Spaniards, according to Aporrea:
Approximately 300 students gathered in the Plaza Civica de la Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), where a young man organized a burning of photos of the King, amid the applause and cheers of those attending.
[…]
Amid cries of “I’m burning the Spanish crown, too!” and “We Catalans don’t have a king!”, the youth set fire to a large portrait of the monarch. Two other young people, in white coveralls and with masked faces, displayed on the university building’s roof a large placard reading “The UAB is burning the Spanish crown”. They strung up an effigy dressed in a crown and a Spanish flag, with the face of the King.
Translation mine.
Here are the photos, as seen on Aporrea:
According to Aporrea, the protesters contend that “the monarchy is illegitimate because a dictator restored it.” They certainly have a point there. Franco overthrew a legitimately elected government, and when Juan Carlos was sworn in as king, he swore his loyalty to Franco. There is something deeply smelly about that.
Think of these pics the next time you see reports like this. Or frivolous crap like this.
A king that owes his position to Hitler, literally. Hitler and Mussolini supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War and Franco reinstalled the Spanish Monarchy. What a pedigree. Might as well just call him the bastard stepchild of Fascism. Puts that whole “Shut up!” incident with Chavez into some perspective, huh?
Even more perspective: Venezuela was liberated from one of the current king’s royal ancestors by Simon Bolivar. Who was, like Chavez, a man of mixed race.
And Aznar’s father and grandfather were ACTUAL Franco fascists, while Aznar’s own party is basically made up of reconstituted Franco fascists. In fact it is the same party, just with a new name.
So yeah, no wonder His Majesty was a little pissy about that “fascist” remark. I think what he really meant was “Hey! Don’t badmouth my meal ticket!”