Spanish Journey Part Two
6. The Mayoress of Seville

Narrator
One of the remarkable things about Seville is that it is one of the few Spanish cities that boasts a Mayoress: Soledad Becerril.

Robert Elms
What is the character of your city like?

Soledad Becerril
The character – rather than of the city – of the people, the character of the Sevillians. Its people, Seville’s, are hospitable, open and always welcoming. Historically, not just nowadays. It has always welcomed people from elsewhere, to the extent that the person from elsewhere after some time here immediately turns into a Sevillian. They adopt the customs, the lifestyle and pleasures. It is a great city on the one hand and on the other it is a city that therefore likes new things but at the same time has learnt very well how to preserve its past, learnt how to preserve traditions. It is very proud shows off a lot.

Robert Elms
What are your favourite places or things here in Seville?

Soledad Becerril
Asking that of a Mayoress is a little…! That’s an ambitious question. The city is the sum of its parts. It is the Santa Cruz quarter, yet it is the river, it is Seville of the Almohades and it is Seville of the Baroque, or Seville of the Romantics, and modern Seville as well.

Robert Elms
And Seville of 1992, modern Seville?

Soledad Becerril
The works done in ‘92 in preparation for the World Exhibition are a very important part of Seville. The works are of great significance because they changed the city's appearance. As far as the infrastructure is concerned, they have changed the city, the city has been considerably modernised.

Robert Elms
You are the first Mayoress the city has known. Is that symbolic?

Soledad Becerril
It is the first time Seville has had a Mayoress and it is a symbol. It is a symbol for many women, and it is a symbol that in Spain there are several Mayoresses in big cities, important centres. It is a symbol of how women in Spain have made strides in the last years, of how things have changed in Spain. I was the first woman to become minister in the government as well, in 1981. And that is very representative of how Spain has changed and how it continues to do so.

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Narrator
The Duchess of Medina-Sidonia is head of one of the most influential families in Spain. She is a controversial figure. In the 60s she was thrown into prison and then exiled for her political opinions. Her palace holds the largest archive of historical documents in Spain.

Inka Martí
And nowadays, what role would you say the aristocracy has in Spain?

Duchess 
Whatever role is given to it by others, because as it stands it truly does not have a role. Now, if we thought that certain powers, or whoever, considered that the aristocracy were faithful servants, well, maybe then it could play a role. Other than that, I think that for the sake of society it is a distinction that should be suppressed as soon as possible. It is poisonous.

Inka Martí
Do you have the most important private collection of documents in the world?

Duchess
Perhaps, we haven't had it valued, but it is.

Inka Martí
What‘s in your archives?

Duchess
The most important items are the private documents, peoples' letters, court cases, the papers that reflect accounts, that reflect the day to day. The ones that aren't court correspondence designed to be read, but rather documents that were only destined for the eyes of the people they were addressed to or the writer himself. That’s to say life in the past from the inside, that gives interest to the archives.

Inka Martí
There are also letters among the papers written by women, mostly Andalusian women.

Duchess
There are many from Andalusia, Catalan, by the way. I have many documents in Catalonian. Women knew how to write, they wrote using holographs. Some wrote very well, describing their lives. It would be interesting to demystify that past we are given by gathering together the letters and simply transcribing them, dividing them into groups and people and publishing them. I'm sorry, I don't have the money for that.

Inka Martí
Do you think women's role in Spanish society has changed?

Duchess
I think women's horizons have changed. Today access to university and certain professions is no longer as closed as it was. But to actually change most women's mentality, they would need a cultural preparation, society at large to be prepared and that has not happened.

Inka Martí 
You have dedicated yourself to diving deep into Spanish history to bring the truth up to the surface.

Duchess
That was not my intention, I meant to go further, but imagine my surprise when I stumbled on the history of Spain, with all the research I've done - I have four… no, three published essays on history completed so far. I found that the documents prove the opposite to what is in the books. So that, of course, means you either repeat fables and for that I’d rather write novels, or you get to the truth of the matter!

Inka Martí
Thank you very much.

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