King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are the current King and Queen of Spain. The King ascended to the throne after his father King Juan Carlos abdicated. As a result, the Royal Family’s popularity soared among Spaniards with 55.7 percent of those polled in June 2014 supporting the monarchy, up 5.8 percentage points from six months before. But could the Spanish Royal Family now be facing extinction and what would happen to King Felipe VI and his family?

The monarchy is the subject of heated debate in Spain after the country’s far-left movement Podemos held a conference where they discussed the possibility of a referendum on the monarchy was put forward.

The proposed referendum from the anti-monarchy party suggested the referendum include an option to abolish the monarchy.

The two-day conference, called “Goodbye Monarchy, hello democracy”, led to the pro-monarchy newspaper ABC publishing an editor’s statement urging Republicans to consider the country’s stability.

The statement said: “We do not need more instability in Spain.”

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The ABC newspaper article also discussed the ongoing conflicts in Catalonia.

Spain has been in a state of pandemonium for several years over the contested region of Catalonia.

For 40 years, Catalonia has attempted to become independent from Spain.

The region had its autonomy suspended for around seven months in 2017 by Madrid after a failed independence bid.

Since then, protests have become common in the region and in October 2019, nine Catalan separatists were sentenced to jail terms between nine and 13 years.

Three others were fined, sparking more outrage and unrest across the region.

In its fourth election in four years, Spain’s governing Socialists (PSOE) won the most seats but failed to win a majority.

In second place was the conservative Popular Party, with the far-right Vox party more than doubling its seats and coming in third place.

Right-wing parties made significant gains in the November election but were once again led with no majority.

The country is attempting to form a new government following the recent election and several organisations which attended the conference were involved in those discussions in some way.

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In total, 37 organisations attended the conference, most of which were militant left-wing groups and parties.

Far-right pro-monarchy party Vox recorded its best result ever at the polls and condemned the conference.

The party has in the past called themselves “defenders of the monarchy”.

At the launch of the party’s campaign, Vox leader Santiago Abascal addressed the government’s controversial plans to remove the remains of the dictator Francisco Franco from a mausoleum near Madrid.

Mr Abascal said: “The remains of General Franco are only an excuse.

“The aim is to rewrite history, the aim is to delegitimise the monarchy and the aim is to topple (King) Felipe VI.”

The conference was also held the same week that the Catalan Parliament voted once again against the monarchy and called for a debate regarding Catalonian independence.

Last Wednesday, the Catalan parliament in Barcelona voted to reject and remove the monarchy with the independent movement winning.

This vote, however, has no effect as Catalonia is currently under the direct control of Madrid.

The republican conference also came in the wake of a Spanish Royal Family visit to Catalonia earlier this month.

As the royal couple and their children arrive in Barcelona, more than 2,000 demonstrators called for an end to the monarchy.

Despite a strong presence of police, the protest turned violent, with separatists carrying banners of the crown symbol upside down and burning images of the King.

Speaking to the crowds, Catalan independence party politician Gabriel Rufián said: “If you really are as prepared as some say and want to participate in the elections, present yourself as a candidate because we Catalans have no king”.

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