King Felipe finally answers the question: Is he Spain's World Cup lucky charm?

The Spanish Royal Family's attendance at some of soccer's biggest matches has, by coincidence, lined up with wins for the Spanish national team. That pattern has fueled a bit of a theory: do members of the family like King Felipe and Princess Leonor have some kind of superpower? Is the family La Roja's lucky charm? King Felipe has finally weighed in on the question, once again landing at the center of attention.

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Is the Royal Family Really Spain's Lucky Charm?

During a morning of audiences at the Zarzuela Palace, RNE journalist Lucía Yeste brought up the rumors to the King directly, sparking one of the day's most talked-about moments. 

"He's the national team's talisman, the King," she told him. The remark caught Felipe VI just as he was leaving the palace's iconic audience hall, and he turned back around for what became one of the more fun exchanges of the day. "Am I the talisman, you're saying?" The King asked. It was a lighthearted break in an otherwise formal, institutional morning, coming less than 48 hours after Spain's historic World Cup win.

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Still, the king wanted to set the record straight: the wins he's witnessed over the years aren't down to luck, and they're definitely not because he happened to be watching in person. As he put it himself, "the real talismans are the players," the same players who delivered a match against Argentina that will go down in history, handing Spain its second World Cup title.

That said, not every appearance by Felipe has brought La Roja good luck. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, he made a quick trip to catch the round of 16 match against the host nation, a game that ended with Spain's elimination on penalties. Felipe, a king through the good times and the bad, headed down to the locker room afterward to console the players, offering his support. There was no win at Euro 2020 either, when he watched Spain draw 0-0 with Sweden at La Cartuja. 

His luck turned around at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He was in the stands for Spain's historic 7-0 rout of Costa Rica, and afterward he went down to the locker room, thrilled, to congratulate the team, telling them that watching them play had been "an absolute joy."

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But it was at the glorious Euro 2024 that the king truly earned his reputation as Spain's good luck charm. After watching a 1-0 win over Italy, he traveled a month later with his daughter, Infanta Sofía, to the historic final against England in Berlin. 

Spain won 2-1 and claimed its fourth European title, a victory Felipe celebrated with the players, even daring to lift the trophy himself. That streak has only fed his reputation as a talisman, and now, after another historic win alongside the national team, Felipe himself has been the one to shoot down the idea that there's any amulet capable of carrying Spain to the top. As he made clear, the only ones responsible are the players.

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