Comic queens : Sofía and Letizia in Spain's graphic satire

McGlade, Rhiannon (2024) Comic queens : Sofía and Letizia in Spain's graphic satire. Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 101 (5-6). pp. 819-844. ISSN 1475-3820 (https://doi.org/10.1080/14753820.2024.2336418)

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Abstract

With its members subject to a series of scandals, questions of legitimacy and the desirability of retaining the Spanish monarchy have repeatedly resurfaced. Leading the charge are the country’s graphic humourists, whose confrontational attacks have been met with draconian legal retaliation under the auspices of lèse-majesté. While derision is typically directed towards Juan Carlos I and Felipe VI, what of their consorts—Emerita Sofía and Letizia Ortiz—legitimized by marriage alone? This article explores how Spain’s cartoonists have used its Queen consorts as ludic sites from which to question the value of monarchy in a country marked by enduring crisis.

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