The Princess (previously Prince) of Asturias awards were born in times of peace and in their forty years of history they have already experienced two wars in Europe and some more in the rest of the world. In Oviedo, every autumn, the King, and since 2019 in the company of Princess Leonor, takes advantage of the awards ceremony as a launching pad for a humanist message in which, through the winners, values are extolled of effort, solidarity, concord, cooperation and the defense of human rights. This Friday, in addition, a praise was made of culture in times of war, for the values it represents and as the maximum expression of freedom and dignity of human beings. "Culture - he said - is a victim of war, but war will never destroy culture."
In troubled times in which the world is facing the challenges of economic and social crises, the King wanted to highlight the immense and irreparable damage that the war in Ukraine is causing. “It's not just destroying lives; also future projects, illusions and hopes, feelings and personal emotions”.
The Campoamor theater in Oviedo was the scene of the awards ceremony, with the presence of the King and Queen, Princess Leonor, Infanta Sofía and Queen Sofía, the first four on stage, the fifth in her usual box . Representatives of the high state institutions, ministers, some politicians, businessmen and institutions committed to the Princess of Asturias Foundation and a wide range of faithful to the awards and their spirit. Regardless of any concession to the gallery, most of the winners in the more than forty years have in common to be people committed to their work and to society.
That is why the King referred to the merits of each one of them and put them as an example of the values that are the essence of the awards and of the Foundation. Values that Europe also represents and that are the essence of the European Union whose origin and, now, maximum effort is, in the words of the King, "to achieve and preserve peace, progress, freedom, equity, democratic principles in the continent".
Felipe VI also wanted to recall the importance that the EU has had and has for Spain, underlining with his words the importance that it now has to show loyalty to everything that a united Europe and its institutions represent. “Today we build Spain, building Europe. That shared future means the fight for certain convictions and principles to forge a future of peace, justice, freedom and hope together”.
As a sign of the path already started to give Princess Leonor greater prominence, the speech that the King delivered this Friday at the awards ceremony was shorter than that of previous years, while that of the heiress extended time and content. Leonor, just as her father did while presiding over the awards as prince, conveyed her own message through the achievements that have brought the different winners to Campoamor.
Princess Leonor coined a phrase that defines her, since she began each of the paragraphs dedicated to praising the merits of the different winners with an "I care". She did it in reference to the bravery of the Polish journalist Adam Michnik; when she extolled the art of María Pagés and Carmen Linares to unite evolution with tradition; she praising the work of the Mexican anthropologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, for "discovering the past to understand what we are." And she continued to highlight that "I care", adding a "I care" when referring to the situation of athletes who make up the refugee Olympic team. In short, in those two words, the Princess condensed her commitment to the awards and, above all, to the values they promote. Before giving way to the King's speech that closed the ceremony, which as usual had notes of emotion and also austere restraint, the Princess of Asturias launched her final reflection addressed, especially to the youngest: "Listen, admire and recognize the excellence of our winners makes us feel that things can change for the better”.
