Royals preside over Spain's 12 October parade as Sánchez is booed amid election call

A parade in the run-up to early elections

King Felipe VI, captain general of the armies, presided over the military parade in Madrid on Monday, 12 October, for the Día de la Hispanidad. Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía sat in the royal stand with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Defence Minister Margarita Robles and the head of the Defence Staff, Admiral General Teodoro Esteban López Calderón. El País framed the act around the pre-campaign for the general elections on 29 November, which the government called early. The parade ran along the Paseo del Prado and Paseo de Recoletos, because the Paseo de la Castellana is still under works to bury the road.

4,380 members took part, 3,850 men and 530 women, drawn from the armed forces, security forces and other public institutions. El País also reported 34 combat and training aircraft and 16 transport aircraft in the flypast.

Boos for Sánchez and a cool welcome from Madrid's leaders

Sánchez was jeered as he arrived, and a shout of abuse aimed at him carried across the crowd. Madrid's regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida received him with a cold welcome, and eldiario.es reported that they had been speaking critically of him to Telemadrid cameras moments earlier. The insults paused during the anthem and resumed during the greeting of government members, regional presidents and other authorities. Felipe VI was cheered with shouts of 'Viva el Rey' as he arrived with his family.

Ayuso used the day to attack the government in comments to Telemadrid, saying:

It is the last parade of Sánchez, so we are all very happy, and probably he too, because this ordeal is about to end for him.

She added that nobody buys the government's line any more and predicted that Sánchez would try 'some last-minute decoy' to hold on to power, citing the cheque-voto proposal. Óscar Puente, the Socialist transport minister, and the Sumar ministers Mónica García, Pablo Bustinduy and Sira Rego were not among the government members in the stand.

Ceuta's absence and the royal visit

The Ceuta crisis hung over the day. Units from Ceuta were absent because they remain deployed in the territory after the violation of Ceuta's territorial integrity on 30 July, and the Regulares de Melilla represented the autonomous cities. Their passage along the Prado drew one of the biggest rounds of applause of the morning, and the Ceuta regional president Juan Jesús Vivas was greeted by Felipe VI at length. Ayuso told Telemadrid that a tribute to the people of Ceuta would be held at the bullfight at Las Ventas that afternoon, saying:

Ceuta is Spain, and today is a good day to stand up for it.

The royals are scheduled to travel to Ceuta and Melilla on Tuesday and Wednesday, 13 and 14 October, to convey a message of 'normality' after the mass entry of migrants in July. Ayuso described the trip as a 'gran gesto'.

Abascal's absence and the campaign on the stands

Santiago Abascal, the Vox leader, skipped the parade for a second year. He said on social media that he would not be in any stand with a government he accused of betraying Spain, and eldiario.es reported that he went to Ceuta to accompany the French far-right politician Jordan Bardella. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP leader, stood close to the authorities' stand with his campaign spokesperson, Esther Muñoz, and spent long periods on his phone, speaking with regional barons including Jorge Azcón of Aragón. Most regional presidents attended, while Juanma Moreno was in Brussels, María Chivite cited personal reasons and Imanol Pradales did not attend.

The goat Babieca, a two-year-old mascot of the Tercio Don Juan de Austria 3rd Legion, marched with the legionnaires at 160 steps per minute, against the 124 of the standard infantry pace, and drew applause from the crowd.