Spain National Anthem

The Marcha Real has no official words, and it never has had any. Spain shares that distinction with only a handful of countries, among them Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. The melody was already in use as a military march in 1761, long before anyone tried to set words to it.

Words have been written more than once. Eduardo Marquina produced a version in 1927 for the silver jubilee of Alfonso XIII, and the poet José María Pemán wrote the best known text in 1928 at the request of Miguel Primo de Rivera. Neither was ever made official, and the Pemán text became associated with the Franco years, which is part of why the question is still delicate.

The most recent attempt came in 2007, when the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee proposed adding words ahead of Madrid's bid for the 2016 Games. A public competition drew thousands of entries, and the winning text was leaked to the press on 11 January 2008, days before its official launch. It was withdrawn five days later. The underlying obstacle is regional: a text built around Castilian identity is unacceptable in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, while a text vague enough to offend nobody satisfies nobody either.