Carlos Perez Gil |
Madrid (EFE).- Felipe VI has returned this Thursday to his Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his graduation (1988-1993) together with fifty colleagues with whom he studied and teachers of that stage.
“I cannot hide the enormous joy of meeting you again (…) It is such a special occasion and one of great significance”, the king began his words in the main hall when addressing his former colleagues, with whom he dined last night as prologue of the commemoration organized by the UAM.
After three years of military training, the then prince studied Law and some Economics and Business subjects and after graduating, he did a Master’s degree in International Relations in Georgetown (Washington), which he finished in 1995.
A “precious” collection of memorabilia
Felipe VI has confessed that since he entered the faculty, on October 18, 1988, “curious, expectant and somewhat lost”, like the other students, until his degree five years later, his “collection of memories is extremely valuable”.
“The university stage is a ‘turning point’ in the life of any student. It was also for me, even though I had a future that was more than ‘foreseeable’”, the monarch joked about the institutional destiny that awaited him.
Looking back, he commented that the impression he has 30 years later is that it was “another era” in light of how the world has changed.
But he has stressed that they were “very intense years and whose balance is extraordinarily positive.” “None of us will forget. I hope that we continue to see each other until life gives us the capacity ”, he wished.
The monarch has had words of praise for the professors he had during his time in Law. “I owe a lot to my teachers,” Felipe VI asserted, reproducing the phrase that he already pronounced in his proclamation before the Cortes Generales.
In particular, he has remembered his teacher and president of the Constitutional Court, Francisco Tomás y Valiente, assassinated by ETA in 1996.
His classmates say he was one more student
Alberto Ramos, who was a class delegate from Felipe de Borbón, took the floor on behalf of his former classmates.
“For five years, he was one more student,” emphasized Ramos, who recalled the good times that the so-called “prince’s group” had, also “at Thursday parties,” and what a “good center” he was now monarch.
The then heir to the throne, Ramos has attributed, according to Ramos, “the group’s link”, which meets every five years to remember his career and that they are in contact through a wasap chat, although the king is not part of it.
This Thursday was not the first time that Don Felipe returned to the public university where he studied, located on the Cantoblanco campus of the UAM, on the outskirts of Madrid.
He did it in June 2003, then as a prince, on the tenth anniversary of his degree, when he also got together with students from his promotion to remember stories and anecdotes from his time at the university.
Accompanied by the Minister for Universities, Joan Subirats, the Head of State has vindicated the role that higher education has in society.
For this reason, he has advocated for a “free, robust, critical capacity and committed to its social function” University.
Subirats has hoped that Princess Leonor, once she concludes her three-year military training that will begin in August, “will have the opportunity to study at the public university” to complete her higher education.
Upon his arrival at the faculty, Don Felipe received an ovation from the dozens of students who were waiting in the lobby, who chanted “Long live the king!” and “Long live Spain!”.