Madrid — MADRID (AP) — Spain’s monarch said Monday that the Spanish conquest of the Americas involved “much abuse” and “moral disputes,” striking a conciliatory tone amid years of conflict between Spain and Mexico over colonial-era abuses perpetrated by the Spanish crown centuries ago.
King Felipe VI made the remarks while speaking with Mexico’s ambassador to Spain, Quirino Ordaz, during a visit to a museum exhibition in Madrid about the role of women in pre-Columbian Mexico.
Regarding the centuries-old Spanish conquest, Felipe said: “When we study them, there are things we know about them, and with our current values, they certainly do not make us proud.”
“But they must be understood in their proper context, not with excessive moral relevance, but with objective and rigorous analysis,” he said.
The Bourbon king’s symbolic statements came after a diplomatic spat between Spain and Mexico over the Mexican government’s demands for an apology from Spain, which had conquered Mexico in 1519–1521, leading to the death of much of the country’s pre-Hispanic population.
Colonial Spain ruled one of the largest empires in history with its territorial holdings spanning 5 continents at its peak between the 16th and 18th centuries. It included much of Central and South America.
Mexico City was the seat of Spain’s colonial power in the Americas after the Spanish and their indigenous allies overthrew the Aztecs in 1521. Mexico City was built on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.
In 2019, former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent a letter to the Spanish King and Pope Francis demanding that Spain “publicly and officially” recognize the abuses committed during the conquest of Mexico. Spain refused to do so, which strained relations between the two governments.
In 2024, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum did not invite Felipe to her inauguration for the palace’s refusal to issue a formal apology, a move Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called “unacceptable”. Spain refused to send a representative to Sheinbaum’s inauguration.
Tensions eased last fall when Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albarez, acknowledged the “pain and injustice” suffered by Mexico’s indigenous population at the hands of the Spanish conquistadors. The comments came at the opening of the same museum exhibit that the king attended on Monday.
“There is pain, suffering and injustice towards the indigenous peoples to whom this exhibition is dedicated,” Albarez said at the time.
Scheinbaum recognized the foreign minister’s remarks as a first step, saying later that “this is the first time that a Spanish government official has spoken about regretting the injustice.”
Felipe’s comments do not constitute a formal apology from Spain’s royal family. Sheinbaum said Monday he would look into his comments.
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