Vargas Llosa Awarded the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise

The government agreed this Tuesday to posthumously award the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise to the writer and academic Mario Vargas Llosa, who passed away on Monday in Lima at the age of 89. This high decoration is awarded on the proposal of the Minister of Education, Professional Training, and Sports, Pilar Alegría. Other cultural figures distinguished with the Grand Cross of this order include the writer Jorge Edwards, singers Joan Manuel Serrat and María Dolores Pradera, actress Concha Velasco, and filmmaker Carlos Saura.

Established in 1939, the Civil Order Alfonso X the Wise rewards individuals and legal entities for "merits acquired in the fields of education, science, culture, teaching, and research, or who have provided outstanding services in any of these fields in Spain or internationally." The Grand Master of the Order is the king, and the Grand Chancellor is the Minister of Education.

Vargas Llosa (Arequipa, 1936 – Lima, 2025) has been a powerful reference in contemporary literature as the author of some of the pinnacle works of Spanish literature of the last half-century, such as 'The Time of the Hero', 'Conversation in the Cathedral', 'The Feast of the Goat', 'Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter', and 'Captain Pantoja and the Special Service'. A member of the Royal Spanish Academy since 1994, he occupied seat L in the learned house.

The decoration adds to awards such as the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded in 2010, the last awarded to an author in the Spanish language; the Rómulo Gallegos prize in 1967 for his novel 'The Green House'; the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters in 1986, and the Cervantes Prize in 1994.