Ola Amigos!

A big ¡Ola! to King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain who have been visiting our fair shores. Why they were in NZ, I have no idea, but it was interesting nonetheless. One of my sisters was due to meet them when they visited the University of Canterbury, but that was unfortunately cancelled after a misunderstanding with another NZ university (which shall remain nameless, suffice to say their grasp of royal protocol leaves much to be desired). So, no Spanish Royals for us! *le sigh

The only member of my family who has encountered a Royal before is my Dad. He met Princess Anne at a function last year in Christchurch, and since he’s from Ye Olde Country I thought he might be rather biased towards the royal family. Ah, but my Dad is not one to be swayed by patriotism, nor celebrity. When I asked him what Princess Anne was like in the flesh he replied 'oh...sort of...Princess Anne-ish'. I pressed him for more detail and he said 'well...she's not the best looking woman'. Heh. I heart my Dad :)

As far as monarchs go (in this progressive and modern age), Spain could have done a lot worse than these guys. King Juan Carlos is the first Spanish monarch since Franco and he’s not done too bad a job. I mean, Spain’s still pretty f*$%ed up but at least he's managed to keep his job (and his head, which is a lot more than can be said for many other new monarchies – yes, I'm looking at you Mr Maximilian I of Mexico!).

(And no, the above picture is not of Juan and Sofia, they're pretty ordinary looking. It's actually of the Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain {1832-1897} who dressed much more like a Spanish monarch should IMHO).