When Jeb Bush came to Spain a few years ago, he committed the horrible blunder of actually referring to the nation as the “Republic of Spain”. Spaniards were outraged at his ignorance. Spain is not a republic, it is something else. I think that if Spaniards looked up the term “republic” in the dictionary, they would probably be pretty happy to consider themselves one, but unfortunately the nation’s history and politics make the use of the term “republic” politically incorrect.
Spain is actually a constitutional monarchy and is official called the “Kingdom of Spain”. Unlike England, where the press loves to pry into the private lives and pecadillos of its royal family, Spaniards and their press leave the royal family in peace. That isn’t to say that the Spanish royal family doesn’t appear in the news and the high society magazines. They do and all the time. But, Spaniards have a great deal of respect for their royalty. Maybe this is because King Juan Carlos played an important role not only in the birth of Spain’s democracy, but also because he was the central figure in dismantling the 1981 military coup attempt.
The result is that everyone lives and lets the King and his family live, with their personal lives unchallenged by an over puritanical and critical eye (and they ain’t no Saints either). There is absolutely no public criticism in the press of these guys. Well, at least until now, and this time it was done in jest and the perpetrator is being prosecuted for offending the honor of the royal family. Continue reading →
Grave Error 