The unprecedented migration crisis unleashed in Ceuta following the massive entry of 80,000 people through the maritime border with Morocco has revealed a new friction between the Government and Zarzuela. After the avalanche on July 30, a minister suggested to Felipe VI that he call Mohamed VI to “thank him” for the help that the neighboring country initially did provide for the return of a significant number of immigrants who had managed to enter illegally, as El País reported on Friday. This highest-level contact did not take place.
Two days after the images of the massive crossing that went viral worldwide, the Royal House issued a statement in which the Monarch expressed his “great concern and indignation” over these “serious events” and warned that “the State must ensure its security and prevent these events – which have also resulted in a sad and tragic loss of dozens of lives – from happening again.” The day before, in his only visit to the autonomous city since the start of the emergency, Pedro Sánchez had denounced what he called “an attack on the territorial integrity of Spain,” which he avoided blaming on Rabat while publicly praising its “collaboration.”
The institutional distancing grew even more when, a week after the border jump, Don Felipe held an unusual reception for the president of Ceuta at his summer residence in Palma de Mallorca. After the meeting in Marivent, Juan Jesús Vivas informed the media that the King had conveyed his “personal commitment” to make a visit to his territory, the only one along with Melilla where he has not been since ascending the throne. Any trip requires Government authorization.
Sources from Moncloa later indicated that the Executive places “no obstacle, quite the opposite,” for the Monarch to travel to the autonomous city, although they specified that it would be “when appropriate” and with “absolute coordination in this regard.” They also noted that no “recommendation or explicit directive” has been given for him not to do so at this time.
In the tension between Moncloa and Zarzuela, the key day refers to the dana. The Kings, the president of the Government, and the then president of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón, were received with jeers and a throwing of objects and mud during their visit to Paiporta in November 2024. Don Felipe and Doña Letizia endured the outburst of citizen anger to be able to dialogue with the victims while Sánchez was evacuated and assaulted with a stick.
Since then, the Monarch and his wife have tried to continue offering comfort to those affected by the misfortunes that have marked the country in recent months. Last summer they were at Lake Sanabria (Zamora), Las Médulas (León), Galicia, and Extremadura, the areas most affected by the 2025 fires. In January of this year, they also met with relatives of the 43 deceased in the train accident in the Cordoban town of Adamuz, visited hospitalized injured, and attended the funeral in Huelva. The head of the Executive was not present at any of these events.
Officially, there is no record that Zarzuela and La Moncloa have recently held any conversation about the possibility of a forthcoming visit by the King to Ceuta, a city shaken by the arrival of a contingent of irregular immigrants equivalent to its population. In the absence of concrete official figures, police estimates suggest that more than 8,000 people could remain there, who have begun to be relocated this week to “temporary” reception spaces given the confirmation that the flow of returns to Morocco from the first days has been interrupted.
After his reception with the president of Ceuta on August 6, Felipe VI made a quick trip to Colombia for the inauguration of its new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, accompanied by the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares. His last meeting with Sánchez took place on July 29, 2026, at the Royal Palace of Almudaina (Palma de Mallorca), one day before the avalanche in the autonomous city, during the traditional summer briefing they hold every year, although they have had telephone contacts since then.
