The traditional reception at Marivent Palace has always been one of the most desired moments of the Mallorcan summer. However, this year's edition had a different, almost historic, feel. For the first time, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía were not mere spectators, but active protagonists of the event, officially posing alongside their parents, King Felipe and Queen Letizia.
The cameras captured perfectly rehearsed smiles and gestures of complicity, but behind the backdrop of protocol, a family reality is hidden that threatens to blow up the foundations of the Crown.
What seemed like a perfect summer postcard is, in reality, the reflection of an unsustainable atmosphere. A "paripé," as close sources define it, that the heir to the throne is no longer willing to tolerate.
The discomfort that smiles can no longer hide
The crisis in Felipe VI and Letizia's marriage is not new. For more than a decade, journalists specialized in the Royal Household, such as Pilar Eyre or Jaime Peñafiel, have claimed that the royal couple lead separate lives. According to their reports, the marriage broke down in 2012, staying together publicly only out of a sense of duty and to protect their daughters' childhood. This sacrifice has weighed more and more over time.
The turning point came when the infantas grew up. With Leonor leaving for the military academy and Sofía studying abroad, the need to keep up appearances within the walls of Zarzuela faded away.The tension, once contained, is now palpable, and it has turned the family home into an emotional minefield of which their daughters are direct witnesses every time they return home.
It has also become known that, just as in Zarzuela, the King and Queen lead separate lives in Marivent. This is something that already happened - although for many years it was hidden - with Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía.
The heir says "enough": a summer planned down to the last detail
According to En Blau, Leonor de Borbón, with increasingly remarkable confidence and composure, has taken control of her own schedule and has sent a clear message: she will fulfill her obligations, but she will not take part in the charade. After posing for the official photo at Marivent, the Princess of Asturias has decided to limit her stay in Mallorca to the strictly necessary time. The long family summers that only served to feed a fiction are over.
Her calendar is designed to avoid discomfort. Sources close to her assure that the princess organizes her plans to spend time with her father or her mother separately, but never with both at the same time.
The image of the three enjoying a day of leisure together has become a utopia. Leonor is not willing to keep pretending a harmony that, quite simply, no longer exists.
Infanta Sofía, on the same page: seeking a future far from Zarzuela
This stance is not exclusive to the heir. Infanta Sofía, who came of age last April, shares her sister's feelings. Her goal is clear: to build an academic and personal future far from Spain, seeking the freedom and anonymity that are denied to her in Madrid. Beyond educational excellence, her desire is to put distance between herself and escape the "permanent conflict" that, according to reports, defines life in the palace.
Both sisters, united by the same circumstance, have found in distance their only way out. The public image of the Royal Family is kept alive by pure institutional inertia, but the family reality is that of a broken core.