The number of Spaniards with good or very good opinion of their country’s “king”, Juan Carlos Bourbon, has fallen from 72% to 50% according to a poll by the El Mundo newspaper. The percentage wanting to abolish the feudal institution of monarchy was 41%, the highest ever. Pro-democracy sentiment was higher amongst younger Spanish people.
To protect its egregiously unwarranted privileges in the face of this fall in support the so-called “royal” family has started a public relations campaign including the first TV interview with the “monarch” in ten years, a new Web site and the depiction of Mr. Bourbon as a less formal figure than before.