King Felipe VI said Spain’s conquest of the Americas included “much abuse” and “ethical controversies,” in remarks that arrived amid a long-running diplomatic dispute with Mexico over colonial-era abuses. The king made the comments during a visit to a museum exhibition in Madrid about the role of women in pre-Columbian Mexico, where he was speaking with Mexico’s ambassador to Spain, Quirino Ordaz.
Felipe told Ordaz that “There are things that, when we study them, we come to know them,” and that “with our current values, they obviously cannot make us feel proud.” He added that such episodes must be treated with care, saying “they obviously cannot make us feel proud,” while also stressing that “But they must be understood in their proper context, not with excessive moral presentism, but with an objective and rigorous analysis.”
The remarks were not presented as a formal settlement. The Spanish king’s comments, according to the reporting, did not amount to a formal royal apology by Spain’s royal palace. After the remarks, Sheinbaum said she would look into what Felipe had said.
The diplomatic tension has centered on Mexico’s demand for an apology for the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521, which Mexico says resulted in the deaths of a large part of the country’s pre-Hispanic population. Spain refused earlier calls for an official recognition of abuses, and relations between the two governments soured as the dispute broadened beyond symbolism.
In 2019, then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador demanded that Spain “publicly and officially” recognize the abuses committed during the conquest of Mexico, in a letter sent to the Spanish king and Pope Francis. Spain refused to do so, and that rejection contributed to years of friction between the governments.
The dispute also played out during leadership transitions. In 2024, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum did not invite Felipe to her inauguration, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the move as “unacceptable.” Spain in turn refused to send a representative to Sheinbaum’s inauguration.
However, the tone appeared to shift last fall when Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, acknowledged “pain and injustice” suffered by Mexico’s Indigenous population at the hands of Spanish conquerors. Albares made those comments at the inauguration of the same museum exhibition that Felipe visited on Monday, and Sheinbaum recognized them at the time as a first step—saying then that “this is the first time that a Spanish government authority has spoken of regretting the injustice.”
On Monday, the Spanish monarchy’s language echoed that acknowledgment while still framing how such history should be understood. The latest statements, though, left the central question—whether Spain will issue an official apology—unresolved, with Sheinbaum saying she would review Felipe’s remarks.