bil

Phil, Liz and Anne work like anything, but the rest of the freeloaders do sod all.

bil

First off, get rid of the Royals and put in a couple of actors and animatronics. If you must have a head of state, elect one for 4 years and then tell them to piss off.

rugbymatt

Charles is no freeloader mate... you forget, I was a tenant of his.

JLFS

Nex 4 years Christopher Biggins and Kate Moss

4 years later Barbara Windsor and Bradley Walsh

4 years later Keith Lemon and holly Willabooby.

bil

True, Diana did a lot too.

Mind you, Andrew, Edward?

bil

and the joy of it is, you are rid of them as soon as the term is up.

rugbymatt

Oh without a doubt... if they were medieval monarchs someone would have drowned them in their gruel....

cricketman

You really had to dig around to find that.

With an incredible 5 comments, most from Latin Americans supporting Letizia

Letizia is a good Oviedo girl like my OH, I doubt she got up to no-good

But saying that, Spanish people are generally very proud of Juan Carlos for all he did for the country, the story is remarkable. However, they are pretty ambivalent towards the rest of them, it will be interesting to see what happens when Juan Carlos goes.

agoreira

When I think of countries with a Royal Family, like Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, UK etc, they are all pretty stable, "sensible" countries (even Jordan, for the Middle East, is relatively stable) but when I think of nutters like Sarkosy, Berlusconi, Chavez, Gadafi, Obama, Mugabe etc, like you, I'm happy with what we have.

bil

Humans have a distressing facility to bend at the kness. It shouldn't be encouraged.

Rosemary

Why does there have to be an alternative, we don´t need a president because like the monarchy they wield too much power and cost extraordinary sums of money. How come other countries can manage with an elected head of state but for some people the UK can´t.

Graham

HBG

The Spanish Royals weren’t around during the Franco years, they were banned. When the old man was dying he knew that he had to hand over power and chose Royalty rather than the rabble.

They couldn’t handle it and put in the socialists, Felipe, I think. He wasn’t a bad guy, nor were the ones that followed him.

Spain has been a democracy for 35 years, they’re way behind the rest of the democratised world and it will take them a few more years to catch up.

Dick Dasterdly

The more generally accepted version is that Franco spent his later years grooming Carlos to take over, in the belief that first he would be accepted by the ppl.and second he would carry on in his footsteps.
However though Carlos appeared to be going along with him, he always had his own agenda, as had a few of his close associates, with a view to returning Spain to a more democratic society.
Under very difficult circumstances he has continued to cautiously play out his role in a wise and sensible manner.

Not quite sure what you mean about catching up with the rest of the democratised world ?
Maybe they don't want to. Maybe they have their own views about what democracy should be.
They will never stand in line and say yes sir, no sir,three bags full sir and dot al the I's and cross all the T's, like many N.Europeans, because it's simply not their way, from a long, long time before Franco ever came on the scene, hence a large black economy, dodgy dealing and corruption at all levels, but on the positive side a tendancy to continue to run their lives in their own way, as they see fit.
They just don't see things exactly as we do and likely never will, but they're none the worse ppl.for all that.

Dick Dasterdly

To say he was out of touch would be something of an understatement until shortly after Di's funeral.
His total disregard for others opinions, his arrogance and uncaring nature in many respects apart than his shambolic relationship with Diana, stood out like a sore thumb for all to see.
Has the leopard changed it's spots ?
I very much doubt it.
What happened was the beginning of a massive P.R. campaign which is still continuing today, in an effort to restore his sad reputation.
All these do gooder campaigns are carefully organised on his behalf, whilst all he has to do is nod his head,flick his fingers or say a few fine words which have all been carefully prepared for him, and even at doing that he is absolutely hopeless, despite having had most of his life with little else to do but practice.

Lenox

I think Charles' job - or function if you prefer - is to be an inspiration to us all, his loyal subjects and British passport holders.
Unfortunately...