what is the name of the national anthem of spain? does it have any official lyrics?

Spain’s national anthem is called “La Marcha Real” (“The Royal March”). It currently has no official lyrics ; it is one of the few national anthems in the world that is purely instrumental.

Name and basic facts

• Official name: La Marcha Real (Royal March).

• Status: Official national anthem of Spain, and also one of the oldest national anthems still in use.

• Form: Instrumental march played without sung text at state events, sports matches, and official ceremonies.

Does it have official lyrics?

• Spain’s anthem has no official words today; only the melody is legally recognized.

• This makes Spain one of a small group of countries (often cited alongside Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino, and Kosovo) whose anthems officially have no lyrics.

• When you see fans “singing” at football matches, they usually hum, shout “¡España!” or improvise, but they are not singing any state-approved text.

What about past or proposed lyrics?

Historically and in modern times, people have tried to give La Marcha Real words, but none are official now.

• In the past, especially under King Alfonso XIII and later during Franco’s regime, versions of the anthem were sung with political lyrics such as “¡Viva España! Alzad los brazos, hijos del pueblo español…”.

• After political changes in Spain, those texts became controversial and were abandoned, and the instrumental version remained.

• In the 2000s, the Spanish Olympic Committee even ran a competition to choose new, neutral lyrics; thousands of entries were submitted and a winning text was briefly announced, but it was withdrawn just days later after public criticism.

• Today, you can find several unofficial proposals circulating (for example, versions starting with “¡Viva España! Cantemos todos juntos…”), but none have any legal status.

Why no official lyrics?

• Any new lyrics have to navigate Spain’s complex history and regional identities (Castilian vs. co-official languages, left vs. right, monarchy vs. republican sentiment), which makes consensus very difficult.

• Many Spaniards seem comfortable with an anthem that everyone can share without words; it avoids arguments about whose language or which political vision should be represented.

TL;DR: The national anthem of Spain is La Marcha Real (“The Royal March”), and it has no official lyrics at all —only the melody is officially recognized, though various unofficial and historical texts exist.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.