Felipe VI is King of Spain. He is the son of former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and has two elder sisters, Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo, and Infanta Cristina. In 2004, Felipe married TV news journalist Letizia Ortiz, with whom he has two daughters, Leonor and Sofía. In accordance with the Spanish Constitution, as monarch, he is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces with the military rank of Captain General, and also plays the role of the supreme representation of Spain in international relations.
Madrid Atocha, also named Madrid Puerta de Atocha–Almudena Grandes, is the first major railway station in Madrid. It is the largest station serving commuter trains (Cercanías), regional trains from the south and southeast, intercity trains from Navarre, Cádiz and Huelva (Andalusia) and La Rioja, and the AVE high speed trains from Girona, Tarragona and Barcelona (Catalonia), Huesca and Zaragoza (Aragon), Sevilla, Córdoba, Málaga and Granada (Andalusia), Valencia, Castellón and Alicante. These train services are run by Spain's national rail company, Renfe. As of 2019, this station has daily services to Marseille, France.
The 2004 Madrid train bombings were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's general elections. The explosions killed 193 people and injured around 2,000. The bombings constituted the deadliest terrorist attack carried out in the history of Spain and the deadliest in Europe since 1988. The official investigation by the Spanish judiciary found that the attacks were directed by al-Qaeda, allegedly as a reaction to Spain's involvement in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Although they had no role in the planning or implementation, the Spanish miners who sold the explosives to the terrorists were also arrested.
The Buen Retiro Park, Retiro Park or simply El Retiro is one of the largest parks of the city of Madrid, Spain. The park belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century, when it became a public park.
Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to have won the World Cup, the Champions League, the European Championship and the Intercontinental Cup.
The Association of Victims of Terrorism is a Spanish association created in 1981 by victims of terrorist attacks. Its members include those injured by ETA, GRAPO, the Provisional Irish Republican Army and Al Qaeda, as well as their families. It does not, however, include victims of extreme right Spanish groups such as GAL, Warriors of Christ the King and others. Its membership exceeds 6,000.
The 2006 Madrid–Barajas Airport bombing occurred on 30 December 2006 when a van bomb exploded in the Terminal 4 parking area at the Madrid–Barajas Airport in Spain, killing two and injuring 52. On 9 January 2007, the Basque nationalist and separatist organisation ETA claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack, one of the most powerful carried out by ETA, damaged the airport terminal and destroyed the entire parking structure. The bombing ended a nine-month ceasefire declared by the armed organisation and prompted the government to halt plans for negotiations with the organisation. Despite the attack, ETA claimed that the ceasefire was still in place and regretted the death of civilians. The organisation eventually announced the end of the ceasefire in June 2007.
The 1977 Atocha massacre was an attack by right-wing extremists in the center of Madrid on January 24, 1977, which saw the assassination of five labor activists from the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and the workers' federation Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO). The act occurred within the wider context of far-right reaction to Spain's transition to constitutional democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Intended to provoke a violent left-wing response that would provide legitimacy for a subsequent right-wing counter coup d'état, the massacre had an immediate opposite effect; generating mass popular revulsion of the far-right and accelerating the legalization of the long-banned Communist Party.
The Atocha station memorial is a memorial monument located at Atocha station in Madrid, Spain, that commemorates the 191 victims of the 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings. Furthermore, it also honors the special forces agent who died when seven suicide bombers blew themselves up on 3 April 2004 during a raid on an apartment used by the bombers.
The controversy regarding the handling and representation of the Madrid train bombings by the government arose with Spain's two main political parties, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Partido Popular (PP), accusing each other of concealing or distorting evidence for electoral reasons.
The Guanche Armed Forces was the armed wing of the Movement for the Self- Determination and Independence of the Canarian Archipelago, Spanish: Movimiento por la Autodeterminación e Independencia del Archipiélago Canario(MPAIAC). It was active between 1 November 1976 and late 1978, when the group unilaterally announced a "ceasefire" in what it considered to be "struggle against Spanish colonial occupation" of the Canary Islands.
The Cafetería Rolando bombing was an attack on 13 September 1974 at the Rolando cafe in Calle del Correo, Madrid, Spain which killed 13 people and wounded 71. Though no claim of responsibility was made, the attack is widely believed to have been carried out by the armed Basque separatist group ETA.
The Zaragoza barracks bombing was a car bomb attack by the Basque terrorist organisation ETA, which occurred on 11 December 1987. A vehicle containing 250 kilograms (550 lb) of ammonal was parked beside the main Guardia Civil barrack headquarter in the city of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain; its subsequent explosion killed 11 people, including 5 children. Another 88 people were injured, the majority of them civilians.
The Madrid attack was a car bombing carried out by the armed Basque separatist group ETA in Madrid, Spain on 6 February 1992, which killed 5 people and injured a further 7. The target was a military vehicle transporting members of the army. The dead included three captains, a soldier driving the vehicle and a civilian working for the armed forces. This was ETA's deadliest attack of 1992.
Terrorism in Spain has been committed by various groups and people.
The Rieucros Camp[ʁjø.kʁo] was an internment camp on a forested hillside near Mende in the French department of Lozère that operated from January 1939 to February 1942. Prime Minister Édouard Daladier established the camp by decree on January 21, 1939, to isolate members of the International Brigades from French society after the defeat of the Second Spanish Republic and subsequent exile, known as la Retirada, in the Spanish Civil War. Other "suspicious and undesirable foreign men," sometimes accused of common law crimes, were also interned. After France's entry into World War II, authorities transferred the men to the camp of le Vernet and began to intern "suspicious and undesirable foreign women" in October 1939. Following the Battle of France, Rieucros fell in the southern unoccupied zone and the Vichy regime assumed control of the camp from Third Republican authorities. In February 1942, authorities transferred the entire camp population of women and children to the camp of Brens.
Our Lady of Remembrance College, Madrid, is an infant through baccalaureate school established by the Society of Jesus in 1880, located in the Chamartín District of Madrid. According to studies by El Mundo in 2007 and 2012, it is one of the best schools in Spain.
The wedding of Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz was held on 22 May 2004 in the Almudena Cathedral at the Royal Palace of Madrid, Spain. At the time of the wedding, the groom was the heir to the Spanish throne. The bride was a journalist. The wedding was presided over by the archbishop of Madrid, Antonio María Rouco Varela, and was watched by 25 million people in Spain alone.
