Queen Letizia has showcased a secret talent as she celebrated World Mental Health day, as she opened her speech with rap verses.
On 10th October 2023, the Queen of Spain joined many other royals in marking World Mental Health Day. Queen Letizia attended an event organised by the Spanish Mental Health Federation, in cooperation with the ONCE Foundation and the Ministry of Social Rights and 2030 Agenda.
Upon her arrival at the Ilunion Pio XII Hotel in Madrid, Her Majesty was welcomed by the acting Minister of Health, as well as other authorities in the world of mental health.
Queen Letizia’s speech was the first one of the event, and she chose to open it with a few rap verses: “I do what I can, I reach what I reach and it’s not healthy to require so much from myself. Rage and bad faces when I do something wrong hurt, but it hurts more when they don’t value that you’ve tried. And I am trying, I’m sorry if I can’t make it, but why would you think that I would always do good?”.
She then added: “I wouldn’t even think about rapping […] but I thought that if maybe some media, tonight or tomorrow, titles “The Queen raps for mental health”, with raps in quotations, I believe it would be a good way of directing the attention once again to such an important and serious issue as this one”.
She then went on to give some figures about mental health in the country, before setting some clear goals: “So it’s important to listen to know where action is needed, because investing in mental health is the guarantee of a more prosperous, more just and more equitable future for all people”.
After a speech from the acting Minister of Health and a roundtable discussion with some experts, a few words were offered by the author of those rap verses, Mr Domingo Antonio Edjang, known by his rapper name El Chojín, whose performance of “Ríe quando puedas, llora cuando lo necesites” (“Laugh when you can, cry when you need”) concluded the event.
World Mental health Day has been celebrated since 1992, with specific themes being assigned to each year since 1994 – almost 30 years ago. This year’s title is “Mental health: a universal right”, a particularly poignant topic as a lot of countries are threatened by mental health crises on massive scales following collective traumatic events like conflict or natural disasters.
Spain has been dealing with mental health even before the creation of this awareness day; the Spanish Mental Health Federation was created in 1983, and today brings together territorial entities, private associations and more than 60.000 members all throughout the country.
