Among the spectators at the June 26 World Cup match between Spain and Uruguay in Guadalajara will be King Felipe VI of Spain, who has accepted a formal invitation to attend.

The Spanish Royal Household has confirmed that the king will attend the match as part of the agenda for his royal visit at the invitation of President Claudia Sheinbaum and FIFA President Gianni Infantino. 

In March, Sheinbaum announced that she had sent an invitation to Felipe VI to attend the World Cup. The March invitation letter reportedly emphasized that the World Cup represented an opportunity to strengthen ties between the two nations through sport, culture, and bilateral cooperation. 

The invitation was sent days before the king publicly acknowledged that “there were significant abuses” and “moral and ethical controversies” during the Spanish conquest of the Americas. 

Sheinbaum described those words as “a gesture; an approach that we acknowledge,” noting that further progress is needed in historical recognition. 

Indeed, the king’s statements were the first in which Felipe VI has directly and publicly addressed the context of the Spanish Conquest and colonization after years of diplomatic tension between Mexico and Spain over that very subject. The recent tension began when former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent a letter to Spain demanding an apology for the wrongs committed against Indigenous people during and after the Conquest.

The letter went unanswered, leading Sheinbaum to refrain from extending an invitation to King Felipe VI to her presidential inauguration ceremony in 2024.

However, formal diplomatic relations were never severed between the two countries, a fact recognized by Sheinbaum during her Monday morning press conference

“What happened was a moment of differing perspectives, and we reaffirmed our view, and they acknowledged it,” Sheinbaum said when asked about the king’s visit. “They are now seeing and speaking differently about the period known as the Conquest.” 

Another recent boost to the trans-Atlantic relationship was Sheinbaum’s trip to Barcelona last month to participate in the Summit in Defense of Democracy, organized by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

With reports from Eje Central and EFE