Ada Lluch, the far-right Catalan influencer who spoke at the UTK rally in London

“Please, men, protect us!” was the plea addressed to the crowd by Ada Lluch, a 25-year-old from Tortosa (Tarragona), who last Saturday became Spain’s “representative” at the massive far-right nationalist demonstration in the streets of London, which drew some 110,000 attendees. An activist for anti-woke and anti-Islam causes, and a defender of the Franco dictatorship as a model preferable to democracy, Lluch made the leap to a position of high political visibility at Saturday’s event. Until then, her impact had been primarily limited to social media, where — like so many other influencers in her ideological orbit — she offers abundant testimony of beliefs aligned with those held by Donald Trump in the United States, where she resided between 2023 and 2024, and those of Vox leader Santiago Abascal in Spain. However, there is one thing that distinguishes Lluch from most of her peers: she has met Trump and been photographed with him at least twice, according to her social media accounts.

Her access to the Republican magnate was facilitated by her ex-partner, Joey Mannarino, who identifies himself as a commentator and political strategist who works with conservative candidates in the United States and who, as she herself has said, introduced her to wokeism, that is, the left-wing ideology that defends diversity. “[Mannarino] is very connected in politics, and through his work with various campaigns, we were invited to different events” where Trump was in attendance, explains Lluch, who declined to speak but did respond in writing to questions from EL PAÍS.

Lluch’s message in London, which lasted just under eight minutes, stuck to the script of the event, a vast display of anti-immigration sentiment: European nations, she maintained before the crowd, who repeatedly applauded her, the West as a whole, Spain in the case she knows best, are losing their identity, their security, their way of life, all as a result of irregular immigration. Particularly at risk, Lluch insisted, are women and children. That was the core of her speech.

“Aren’t you tired of waking up every single day with the news of yet another innocent woman or child who has been raped, assaulted, or even murdered?” she asked, before addressing “men” — as “a daughter, a sister, and, God willing, one day a mother” — to ask them to protect women.

The opportunity to speak in London arose at Lluch’s own initiative. “I contacted Tommy [Robinson, the far-right extremist and the demonstration’s organizer] when I heard about the event, asking him if there would be any Spaniards participating and telling him it would be an honor to represent our country,” she explains. Vox published a message on X on Tuesday highlighting that Abascal’s voice was also heard at the demonstration. It was in a Spanish-language video of just over three minutes broadcast during the event.

With the demonstration, Robinson demonstrated his enormous capacity to rally people after his time in prison between last October and May for ignoring a court order prohibiting him from repeating false accusations about a Syrian refugee. “Every nation needs a million people like Tommy Robinson in the UK, Santiago Abascal in Spain, and Donald Trump in America,” said Lluch from the stage, where she also offered words of praise for Elon Musk —who participated via videoconference — and the recently murdered Charlie Kirk.

However, the bulk of her message was against a “political establishment” that, she reiterated, has fostered a flood of migration. “Our nations have been completely invaded and terror has already been unleashed,” she asserted, rebelling against a future in which she fears her daughters will have to “wear a burqa.” Lluch, who claimed that saying all this does not make her “racist” but rather “patriotic,” added that while governments subsidize immigrants to have up to five children, European women are barely having any, which is causing a “great demographic replacement,” an expression that brings this discourse closer to the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which originated in France and has now permeated the Spanish far-right political party Vox. “We need to start having more babies now,” she exclaimed, before signing off with a “thank you, God bless you, and God save the West.”

From “woke” university student to Trumpist

On X, where she has more than 370,000 followers, Lluch introduces herself in English as: “Just a girl with common sense. Born and raised in Spain.” Since Saturday, she has shared numerous posts about her performance in London, which has earned her mentions in reports on an event with international repercussions. She has received glowing reviews from conservative voices in the United States, such as Joey Mannarino, her ex-partner, Lavern Spicer, and Ann Vandersteel, all of whom have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.

Saturday’s speech was, Lluch explains in one of her posts on X, “the first time” in her life that she had spoken “in front of people.” “But when this opportunity arose, I knew I had to represent Spain.” In another tweet, she states that she has read comments pointing out that her skirt during the speech was “too short,” to which she responded that it was a “deliberate” choice to underline the freedom she does not want to give up in the face of those who want to impose “the burqa” and to pay tribute to the defenders of the miniskirt in the 1960s.

Some of her posts seem designed to stir up controversy, something that is always well rewarded by X, whose owner is her admired Musk. She claims “no one cares more about humanity than him.” In a tweet that has been viewed more than 318,000 times, Lluch states: “I’m not a lesbian, so I can’t date liberal guys. Just wanted to make that clear.” In another message posted this month, she maintained: “Every time I see a woman dating a progressive man, I assume she’s a lesbian.”

Lluch presents herself as a woman eager to have children. In a May message, she explains that she has separated from her husband because he didn’t want to have an “army of children” while she did. “I want to have children and I want them as soon as possible. I can’t start having an army of babies at 31,” she details in that message, in which she responds — as she explains — to those who suggest she left her husband to pursue fame on social media. “If the man I want to start a family with told me ‘delete your X account and take care of our family,’ I would do it immediately.”

In other posts, she calls Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a “psychopathic narcissist,” describes actor Javier Bardem “retarded” for posing with his fist raised wearing a Palestinian scarf, and — in December 2024 — openly defends Franco’s dictatorial regime: “Spain was better under Francisco Franco Bahamonde. And every person that lived under his leadership agrees with it.”

Her views haven’t always been so far to the right. As she herself has said, at university — she studied medicine for three years at the Autonomous University of Barcelona — she considered herself “woke.” However, that ended when Mannarino made her “understand how life works.” Now she’s a Trump enthusiast.

When asked about this ideology, she replies that she doesn’t accept “any labels.” “They’re full of connotations, and people will prejudge. I just want a place [that] my future children can call home without having to submit to any ideology that tells them they’re second-class citizens in their own country,” she asserts in a written response.

Intention to join Vox

Although she also makes political pronouncements on Instagram, where she has more than 36,000 followers, her account there is labeled “health/beauty.” And the main focus is on posed photos, mostly similar to those posted by other people of her age. Most of them, but not all. This account also contains photos of her with political heavyweights.

In two of the most notable snapshots, published in April 2023 and January of this year — although it is from the previous year, she explains — Lluch appears alongside Trump. In both, the Republican leader appears sporting a wide smile and giving the thumbs up.

According to her own explanation, Trump is the reason her husband proposed to her. Why? As reported by NDTV, during their first meeting, the Republican leader told her then-boyfriend after learning they weren’t married: “You’re going to be very depressed if you don’t marry her.”

She has also posted photos with former Republican mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani and Santiago Abascal, in this case in April 2024 in Budapest during a conservative summit. “I get invited to many different events because I’m active in politics. I always try to attend as many as I can,” she explains.

Separated from Mannarino, with whom she says she remains a good friend, she now lives in Europe “most of the year,” she says. She hasn’t yet decided where to settle.

Does she have plans to enter politics? “It would be an honor to get involved in politics, but my first priority is to start a family and be a present mother. I believe that is my main calling. I would only fully dedicate myself to politics if I felt I could truly make a difference. I find the current state of Europe unacceptable; if I could do something to change it, I would immediately seize the opportunity... for my future children,” responds Lluch, “a big supporter” of Vox but not a member. “I would probably like to join Vox soon. Since I don’t live in Spain full-time, I haven’t done so yet.”

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