Such deference will, it is hoped, be reinforced by Saturday’s ceremony. The 1,300 guests at the wedding banquet will include not just some 300 members of Europe’s royal families but also representatives of Spain’s 17 regional governments, the diplomatic corps and even, to the surprise of some, trade union leaders. If all that this means is that the Spanish royal family costs two-thirds as much as the British one (almost exactly in proportion to the difference in population) the more important effect is that it is seen to fit in with the spirit of modern Spain.Juan Carlos has no direct political power, but his role as a unifying figure, in a country where there are four official languages, is more than just a symbolic one. The Royal household is located in the modest Palacio de la Zarzuela and costs the taxpayer less than 1bn pesetas (£5m) a year. The King himself pays tax of around 50 per cent on his salary, and the royal family owns no properties: even the King’s yacht is leased by the state. Fourteen years later, the monarchy still enjoys public affection bordering on idolatry.This popularity has been maintained by careful marketing The monarchy now presents a low-budget, progressive image.

But ever since 23 February1981 – when a group of military commanders held parliament hostage until the King addressed the terrified nation on television to say he was firmly on the side of the three-year-old democratic constitution – he has been credited, more than any other individual, with ensuring Spain’s successful transition to democracy. The King himself is unstuffy, even slightly raffish: he is known, in quiet moments, to play cards with the royal photographers whose job it is to shadow him, and, when out of camera shot, he likes to joke, swear and generally behave like any other Spaniard. Do the Spanish royals really know what they are getting into? Or are they unwittingly introducing a dangerous new element – public hysteria – into the otherwise perfectly symbiotic relationship between the royal family and the press?AT THE moment, the Spanish royal family enjoys an enviable degree of respect from the media, largely because of the almost universal reverence in which King Juan Carlos I is held. “His father was a count, and his grandfather was Minister of Defence to King Alfonso XIII [the present King's grandfather]. The Spanish royal family has followed the events in the British royal family very closely and they are concerned, let us say, that the people who their children marry are discreet and prudent.”But so, of course, were the British royal family a decade and a half ago. “The King and Queen especially liked his `biography’,” says Marius Carl. Elena and Jaime de Marichalar have been conducting their romance since 1987, out of the way of the Spanish press, in Paris, where Jaime works for Credit Suisse and Elena has studied French literature and riding Not until January last year did the story break.

Diez Minutos published a story about the couple and Hola! was quick to follow it up; but no one has yet been intrusive or disrespectful.Nor has anyone had a bad word to say about Jaime de Marichalar, who, like Elena, is shy, reserved, not particularly glamorous – and entirely respectable. In future, she will also be known as the first Bourbon to marry in full view of a giant television audience.So far, discretion has had the upper hand. She has been known, up until now, principally for her dedication to regal sports such as riding and sailing; for her training as a teacher; and for the moment, during the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Barcelona, when she burst into tears at the sight of her brother Felipe leading the Spanish Olympic team into the stadium. (“I don’t think it’s necessary to talk about marriage whenever I appear in a photograph with someone,” she complained primly when she was officially interviewed for her 30th birthday.) Yet, like the Windsors before them, the Bourbons are also modernising Elena is one of the first Bourbons to go to university.