If it is that the black legend against Spain, maintained over several centuries by, above all, the French, English, Dutch and Belgians, means very little, where it now survives more and better is in certain Spanish regions where there are those who emphatically deny his Spanishness, an attitude that does nothing but magnify it, because who else would think of such nonsense if it is not a Spaniard, a great Spaniard, go.
There are also many Spanish citizens in Spain who do not miss any opportunity that allows them to rant against the Crown, the Constitution of 78, the Catholic Church, the imperial past or, on the other hand, the amazing linguistic, cultural, gastronomic and geographic diversity of the nation. . These same Spaniards, however, all of them Hispanophobic as the top of a pine tree, nevertheless speak wonders of the democracy that prevails in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom does not have a written constitution, since its laws and ancient political system are based on tradition, on the centuries that the British have been granted and guaranteed freedoms and rights unimaginable in other corners of the world. Faced with the black legend against Spain, the United Kingdom seems like a fairy tale, as the producers of series like Downton Abbey or The Crown know, not to mention the comings and goings of Queen Elizabeth, Harry and Megan or the pets that roam freely in one of the castles or palaces owned by the Royal Family.
Compared to other monarchies, but above all to the British, the Spanish monarchy must be the most democratic, supervised and poor, as well as being the one that works the most and best for all citizens, at the same time that it is the one that receives the most criticism. receives from them. Even so, and despite the unfortunate excesses of the emeritus king, even a staunch republican could prefer a guaranteed parliamentary monarchy like the current one, to a desired but undefined republic, prone to becoming an autocracy or worse.
If nothing more than a matter of age, the days are numbered for the long reign of Elizabeth II, who has given so much of herself. Upon his death, however, nothing guarantees the survival of the monarchy in a kingdom divided by Brexit, rampant inequality or ruthless political struggle, not to mention the generational and geographical gap, to which one could add the growing disaffection between Scots and Northern Ireland. In short, the outlook is anything but encouraging.
British society is surely the most class-oriented in all of Europe, in addition to being the one that grants the most privileges to its leaders and the upper class in general, as Boris Johnson well knows with his posh accent and disregard for the less fortunate. But who enjoys countless privileges unthinkable in any democratic country, is none other than Queen Elizabeth II.
The monarch is not required to have a passport or driver's license, and according to recent reports by The Guardian, more than 160 laws guarantee her immunity. That is to say, her majesty, her queen, is above the law. Her private fortune is colossal and if until recently she did not pay taxes, now she does, surely reluctantly, but always in her own way, of course.
Although she owns Buckingham Palace and a breathtaking art collection, she cannot, as head of state, sell these assets, unlike Sandringham and Balmoral, their pleasure castles with their vast grounds that are excluded from jurisdiction police, despite the prosperous businesses that are set up in them and that work at full speed, without being accountable to anyone. To make matters worse, the Queen's employees are denied the right to accuse her of any sexual or racial abuse.
In short, the list of privileges and shenanigans is endless. Then there are the vast fortune and estates of the Prince of Wales, the heir apparent, and the proceeds from the public treasury that go into the deep pockets of the immediate royal family and countless relatives who are nothing more than careful suckers. And what about the Upper House, the House of Lords, which hardly has a place in a true modern democracy. And if all this were not enough, the media have it raw when it comes to investigating the Windsors, as The Guardian well knows.
Perhaps the time has come for the birth of a black legend against the United Kingdom. Reasons and desire are not lacking. It is a wounded, groggy, disoriented, pissed off, impoverished and resentful society, which could use a constitution like the Spanish one of 1978
