Doctors have decided to release King Juan Carlos from the hospital after his recent hip replacement surgery, the Royal Household said today. They say he is enjoying “satisfactory” recovery.
Recognizing the fallout from his huntring trip last week, His Majesty apologized for his actions.
The King said: “I am hoping to return to my obligations. I am very sorry. I have made a mistake and it will never happen again. Thank you for your concern.”
The Spanish branch of the World Wildlife Fund is expressing concern and requesting a meeting with the Royal Household over King Juan Carlos’ elephant hunting trip to Africa, where he suffered a hip fracture last week.
WWF outlined its concerns in a letter released today, as politicians and Spaniards debated the King’s trip, which many see as lavish and insensitive to the county’s economic woes. WWF in Spain questions whether the King can continue as the group’s honorary president.
Juan Carlos del Olmo, the group’s secretary general, said there was an “enormous backlash” to the King’s hunting activities, even if they were legal. He said people around the world were expressing “energetic protest.”
Meanwhile, Queen Sofia visited her husband today. She said he was showing “phenomenal progress.” Doctors said he may be out of the hospital soon.
His recovery, however, means that he won’t be able to make it abroad to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years as British monarch.
Click here for Spanish Television coverage.
In the chapter titled An Engaging Monarchy, John Hooper, author of The New Spaniards, provides some insight into why the Bourbon royals are different or seen as different compared to other ruling monarchies. Hooper described a memorial service after the 2004 Madrid terrorist attacks:
When the service ended, the dignitaries prepared to file out, led by the Spanish royal family. But instead of leaving the relatives alone with their grief and incomprehension, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, accompanied by their children and their children’s partners, moved from pew to pew consoling the bereaved.
They clasped the hands of the bereaved, hugged their shoulders and kissed their cheeks. The King embraced a stooped old lady, and bent down to listen to her story. The Queen wept openly. Princess Cristina too sobbed as she hugged mourners.
It is inconceivable that any of the Windsors, for example, would have put their dignity at risk in that fashion.
The Royal Household is planning cuts to protocol and personnel expenses to conform with national austerity measures, El Pais reported today.
The Spanish daily newspaper said the Household was hoping to meet or exceed the new budget’s 2 percent reduction in Royal expenses.
The King’s representatives are also in talks with ministries, which offer support, and Patrimonio Nacional, which manages royal palaces, aimed at cutting costs.
The Crown costs the Spanish state about 8 million euros a year. The King receives about 293,000 euros in salary, a significant portion paid in taxes.
In recent weeks King Juan Carlos met with top Spanish business leaders — including executives from Spanish giants Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and Telefonica — and urged them to act fast in favor of job creation.
Spain’s unemployment rate is hovering above 20 percent and climbing. The informal economy accounts for some of that. Still, the King told the assembled group: “The situation is very serious.”
Click here to see the El Pais front page from last Sunday.
Click here and here for more perspective on Spanish economic troubles from The Economist.
Spain’s Audiencia Nacional (National Court) has ordered members of the rock group Ardor de Estomago to pay about $1,000 for insulting King Juan Carlos, according to dpa, the German press agency.
A recent article said the group recorded a song calling the the King a “bastard” and “disgusting dictator.” Members performed the song in 2009 at a festival in Segovia, but the city’s mayor denies being aware of the lyrics.
A nationalist organization brought the charges, the article said.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia traveled to the southwestern port city of Cadiz to celebrate the bicentennial of the so-called Cadiz Constitution, also known as “La Pepa.” While only in place intermittently for a handful of years, the Cadiz Constitution represents Spain’s first true attempt at a modern Constitutional system of government. King Juan Carlos called it one of the most important episodes in Spanish history.
“We render tribute to Cadiz and its Courts, the decisive link en the struggle for the liberation of the homeland and a symbol of the collective enterprise that benefited Spain, Latin America and also the rest of Europe,” the monarch said to strong applause.
Click here for RTVE’s coverage.
Click here for the Latin American Herald Tribune’s coverage.
For many people, especially Americans, royalty is a thing of the past. Critics call it an expensive and unnecessary anachronism. In Spain, however, it was the vehicle for long lasting Democracy.
In some ways, King Juan Carlos can be called Spain’s George Washington. As dictator Francisco Franco’s handpicked successor, Juan Carlos rose to the Spanish throne in 1975 with wide powers. He swore to continue Franco’s post-Civil War authoritarian movement, which managed to survive the fall of fascism elsewhere in Europe. However, almost immediately upon taking office, he began the process of democratization and national reconciliation. The King not only gave up power, but also used his hard-earned prestige to secure the success of the democratic experiment.
King Juan Carlos faced skepticism and hostility from the right and the left. His own father, Don Juan de Borbon y Battenberg, the exiled rightful dynastic heir to the Spanish throne, had doubts about his son’s democratizing intentions and was often uncomfortable about Juan Carlos’ relationship with Franco. On the other end of the ideological spectrum were the military and Franco’s cronies, determined to protect the hard-line regime. In the end, the King gained the acceptance of the left, the love of many in the middle and managed to neutralize the far right, despite several coup attempts.
King Juan Carlos has ruled Spain for more than 35 years, most of which under a Constitution he helped promulgate with popular support. The path to the throne started when he was just a boy, after his father sent him to Spain to be educated under Franco, hoping it would help lead to a restoration of the monarchy under the Bourbon dynasty. The plan came close to failing several times. In fact, it was often more of an improvised gamble than a well thought out plan. It was Juan Carlos who made it work. Historian Paul Preston, author of Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy, says the King was often the only reason Democracy survived.
In his book, Preston quotes a Spanish commentator who said, “Whilst we Spaniards thought we deserved something better than a king, it turns out that we have a king we don’t deserve.” Because of their commitment to pluralistic politics and their warm relationship with the citizenry, the Spanish royals enjoy strong approval ratings. Spain went through several false starts toward Democracy and much bloodshed in the process. King Juan Carlos was the leader who made it stick.
LOS BORBONES 