7
P
rince
of
A
sturias
A
wards
1981-2014. S
peeches
Speech IV
1
Once more Asturias extols its universality with the granting of the Awards that bear the name
of their Prince, a clear bond between the successor to the Crown and this generous, robust and
hospitable land, which is an example of industriousness for all of the Spanish people.
1
In the distance, on the other side of the ocean that so many Asturians have crossed throughout
the years, I know that my son feels nostalgia and regret for not being among us in order to bestow
the Awards, congratulate those who receive them and express his gratitude for your attendance.
He is kept from us by unavoidable academic obligations in another faraway place, which imply
sacrifice and concession on his part, and it is precisely in his outstanding performance as a student,
in the arduous challenge of being faced with an unfamiliar world outside of Spain, heretofore
unknown to him, from where, as a young Spaniard of his times, he proffers you the finest tribute
that ought to be rendered.
These Prince of Asturias Awards have been created to acknowledge and exalt the qualities and
merits of the individuals and entities that, within the different areas that these honours comprise,
have earned the admiration and respect of us all.
No person is more than another if they do not accomplish more than the other. Yet you have all
distinguished yourselves with your accomplishments.
The assiduous dedication of scientific and technical investigation, the noble tasks of creation in
the arts, literature and sciences, communication between people and communities and cooperation
with our fellow nations of America, the exaltation, in short, of activities of the spirit constitutes an
indispensable and fundamental condition for the development of the society in which we live and
means that we may also contribute to the well-being of the entire world.
We cannot move ahead through the complex weave of history
in which we are presently immersed without the lucid, unwavering,
sometimes anguished, always joint endeavour of those like
yourselves; those who today receive the Prince of Asturias Awards,
who have given up the best of your intelligence and effort to the
service of progress and peace.
On this score, from among the Laureates and as a summation
and compendium of all of them, allow me to make special
mention of the Presidents of Colombia, Mexico, Panama and
Venezuela —represented here by their respective Chancellors—
whose bold efforts in favour of peace open up the way to concord
and understanding between peoples, as well as making progress toward freedom; efforts which merit
our support and applause, as the Jury has well understood upon granting them such a high distinction.
In all of its scope and at every one of its levels, culture ought not to be only an instrumental
possibility correlated to and denotative of our condition of social development, but rather
something more profound and lasting: the proposal of an ethical conduct.
Culture and ethics occasionally seem to be terms removed from one another, independent,
or perhaps even opposed. Nevertheless, they must be inseparable, because the former would not
amount to much if it were not inspired by the latter and stimulated by the tremendous strength of
the spirit.
1 On completing his secondary studies, HM King Felipe VI spent his final pre-university school year at Lakefield College
School in Canada. King Juan Carlos I presided over the Awards Ceremony and delivered a speech.
“In the distance, on the other side of the
ocean that so many Asturians have crossed
throughout the years, I know that my son feels
nostalgia and regret for not being among us.”
