In an unprecedented move that could reshape Spanish-Mexican relations, King Felipe VI has publicly acknowledged the historical abuses committed during Spain’s conquest of the Americas. The monarch’s remarks, delivered during a visit to an indigenous women’s exhibition at Madrid’s National Archaeological Museum, represent the first time a Spanish royal has addressed colonial-era injustices directly.
Speaking informally before Mexico’s Ambassador to Spain Quirino Ordaz, King Felipe stated that numerous abuses occurred during the conquest of territories that would become modern Mexico. ‘There are things that, when we study them with our present-day criteria and values, obviously cannot make us feel proud,’ the monarch added during his Monday address.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum immediately welcomed the royal acknowledgement as a significant diplomatic breakthrough. ‘One could say it is not everything we would have wanted,’ she noted, ‘but it is a gesture of reconciliation—an acknowledgement of excesses and exterminations that happened during the Spaniards’ arrival.’
The timing holds particular significance following years of diplomatic tension. In 2019, then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador formally demanded Spain’s apology for human rights violations during colonization. The dispute escalated in 2024 when President Sheinbaum notably excluded King Felipe from her inauguration ceremonies, citing Spain’s inadequate response to Mexico’s concerns.
Historical context underscores the sensitivity: 2021 marked the 500th anniversary of Tenochtitlán’s fall—the Aztec capital now underlying Mexico City—to Hernán Cortés and his conquistadors. The Spanish conquest resulted in widespread indigenous fatalities through both military campaigns and introduced diseases.
While Spain’s Socialist-led government fully endorsed the king’s statement, with Minister Elma Saiz expressing 100% support, conservative factions reacted critically. People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo cautioned against evaluating historical events through modern lenses, calling such scrutiny ‘crazy.’ He defended Spain’s colonial legacy as creating ‘an exceptional linguistic and cultural community’ that compared favorably to other imperial actions of the era.
The far-right Vox party went further, labeling the conquest ‘the greatest work of evangelisation and civilisation in universal history.’ Vox MEP Hermann Tertsch expressed astonishment that the monarch aligned with ‘those who seek to damage and discredit Spanish history.’
This development occurs against Spain’s complex historical reckoning. While the nation offered citizenship to descendants of Jews expelled during the Spanish Inquisition in 2015, it has not undertaken comprehensive colonial reappraisal like other European nations. King Felipe’s comments, disseminated through the Royal Household’s social media channels, potentially open new dialogue avenues between the two nations, though specific next steps remain undefined.