Spanish history

Morcilla (blood sausage) with huevos and patatas at El NanoBar.

Sipping a vino blanco outside El NanoBar in the Malasana neighborhood, I struck up a conversation with a Spanish guy (Andres) to help me clear up some things.

Me: How come all your kings are French?

Andres: They're not. The king today (Felipe VI) was born in Madrid.

Me: OK but he's the son of a foreign-born dad, the previous king. And the previous Felipe (V), was French, right? And there were French kings for hundreds of years, all the way into the 20th century.

Andres: That was a long time ago.

Me: How come there was an Austrian (Habsburg) Spain and a French (Bourbon) Spain, but not a Spain/Spain? I mean, you had rulers who couldn't even speak Spanish.

Andres: You have to understand, Spain is a relatively recent concept. Before, it was a collection of kingdoms, Castile, Toledo, Aragon ― and they had to form alliances with other European kingdoms.

Me: American colonialists had to form an alliance with the French, but you didn't see George Washington's daughter marrying Henri LaBeouf IV or whatever. [George Washington had no children.]

Andres: I don't know anything about that, but for 300 years we had the world's biggest overseas empire. It is true we did not adopt a Spanish constitution until 1978. I can say with confidence that you are now sitting in Spain/Spain, as you call it.

Me: Alrighty. Good chat. Adios.

Andres: Nos vemos. Enjoy your visit. Do some more reading.