June 2, 2014 will mark a milestone in the chronology of Spanish history. The list of monarchs will close with this date the reign of one of its longest reigning members. And it will do so with the addition that he abdicated, in this case not by force majeure, but by his own will, as did Charles V, retired in Yuste after leaving the throne to his son Philip II. In any case, the reign of Juan Carlos I enters the territory of history, which is the same as saying in the territory of balance and assessment, in the territory of study and reflection, beyond strict political debates, with the will of objectivity -impossible one hundred percent for those who should not be conditioned by the urgency of opinion or the pressure of circumstances.

Beyond the pages of the press or the official bulletin , Juan Carlos I will become a regular illustration in textbooks, the subject of congresses and research, a figure that will become a distant figure in time and who will be valued or criticized for his actions, for his almost forty years of reign, for a time in which Spain changed profoundly. Apologists and critics will arise, some aspects will be praised and others will be minimized, but her figure will remain in history and her role will be outlined with time and the calm of distance. It remains to be seen what is his place in the collective report , how his figure settles in the sediment of the community, what acts prevail in the memory above the globality and complexity of his figure. Also his report will have to be analyzed from the point of view of history, as an element that is part of the perceptions of the past.

The present, on the other hand, is witnessing the suggestion of another political system. The vindication of the Republic is invoked as an alternative to a general malaise to which the monarchical institution itself and, above all, some of the actions of the royal family are no strangers. And this is the challenge that Felipe VI faces, that of gaining a popular support that his father did not have in abundance either. The future will have to be acquired in the heart of a society that is at least skeptical, suspicious in its discomfort towards anything that means undeserved privilege or abuse of power. And the challenge is none other than that of normalizing the institution, stripping it of prerogatives that are hurtful to a collective hard hit by the crisis.

Perhaps we should speak of a refoundation of the monarchy, whose first step is precisely the replacement of the incumbent. The generation that did not know the war and played a leading role in the end of Franco's regime and the transition is left behind and the one that was formed and has grown up in democracy is established. The generation of the crisis and difficulties of the seventies and eighties, the one that forged an institution that ended up being respected and praised, is now replaced by the generation facing the difficulties of the new millennium, very similar in the suffering they cause, especially among young people. The needs of both moments, the conditioning factors and expectations have changed and perhaps it is not prudent to maintain inertias and attitudes alien to the times in which we live, so a new perspective becomes imperative. In some way, a new establishment is required to maintain the institution in the face of the growing rumor of contestation, of the republican demands that are - for the moment - an expression of discontent rather than conviction or loyalty to an idea. But all this is nothing more than a reflection of a society that requires changes to which any institution must listen and adapt to them as far as possible.
A new chapter in the book of history is opening and we can only hope that normality and peace, as recommended by Charles V to his son, will be the dominant trend; the one by which the time of Philip VI will be remembered.