His Majesty The King's Christmas Message () is the annual broadcast by the Spanish monarch on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

. It has taken place every year since 1975, the first year of

Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

's reign. The speech is aired on all Spanish TV channels.

Broadcast

The message typically combines a chronicle of that year's major events, with specific focus on politics, economy, culture and social affairs, and also the sovereign's own personal feelings on Christmas. It is usually not broadcast until 21:00 on 24 December.

Recurrent topics

During his reign, King

usually covered the main problems of the nation, such as

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

. In 2004, the speech was highly related to the Madrid train bombings earlier that year; in 2006 the King discussed the need to become a united nation against terrorism (in implicit support of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. O ...

's anti-terrorist policies) and he mentioned the increasing force of immigrants in Spain and appreciated their contribution to the economy.

Special speeches

In popular culture

* During his reign, Juan Carlos began his speeches with the phrase "" (" The Queen and I"). This was commonly considered his main catchphrase and as such has often been parodied by media. A

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

in '' El Jueves'' magazine about the monarchy takes his title from this. In a departure from his father's custom, King

Felipe VI Felipe VI (; Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. In accordance with the Spanish Constitution, as monarch, he is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed For ...

started his 2015 speech with the phrase "" (Good evening). * The King's speech has been parodied in many television shows such as '. *

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

's speech on the occasion of Fiesta Nacional de España was criticized by the Left because it bore a resemblance to the King's Christmas speech. Rajoy delivered his message seated near the

flag of Spain The flag of Spain (), as it is defined in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, Constitution of 1978, consists of three horizontal stripes: red, yellow and red, the yellow stripe being twice the height of each red stripe. Traditionally, the middle co ...

and in a medium shot, just as royal speeches usually are.

References

Christmas in Spain Monarchy of Spain Speeches by heads of state {{Spain-stub