King admits 'colonial abuse' in gesture towards Mexico

Felipe VI acknowledged this week that "there was considerable abuse" during Spain's conquest of the American continent.

He made the remark during a visit, not listed on his public diary, to an exhibition on women in indigenous Mexico at Madrid's Museo Arqueológico Nacional, in the presence of Mexican authorities and representatives, including their ambassador in Madrid, Quirino Ordaz.

Although he is the first Spanish monarch to speak so openly on this sensitive issue, Felipe VI himself stressed that such moral debates had existed since the earliest stages of colonisation, and that historical events should be analysed "with perspective and without anachronistic judgements", while acknowledging the "injustices committed".

Mexican leaders have recently called on Spain to recognise what they describe as the actions of colonialists. Following the King's comments, right-of-centre parties in Spain have criticised the need to seek pardon.