We’re not talking about Freddie Mercury, are we?
Slight hijack – I cannot vouch for others, but in Spain the monarchy had a very important point, on February 23-24, 1981.
Long story short: On that date, had it not been for the king, and for the fact that the head of state was a king, we probably would have ended up with “Spanish Civil War - Part 2” becoming all the rage in my country.
Agreed. Juan Carlos was the epitome of what a monarch should be in that crisis. Franco actually did something right for once if he had anything to do with Juan Carlos developing a sense of sovereign’s responsibility.
Well yeah, but remember that a favorite conspiracy theory is that he orchestrated the whole thing. I know people whose take on the issue is “nah, he’s not that smart… she, on the other hand…” Curiously enough, I also know many people who think that if he did, it was well done (there were a lot of political changes stemming from that day).
Personally, I doubt those conspiracy theories. Especially given that, if anything, the final result was that the Spanish democracy itself ended up reinforced, with the King firmly put into a ceremonial role, divested of any real power.
That, combined with the facts surrounding the coup that had been prepared for October 27, 1982 (the day before the Elections), a coup attempt that was much better organized (the involved military leaders had already prepared “black lists” of people to be shot and had decided that one of the things they would do was to surround and isolate the residence of the Royal family)… As I said, all that makes me think that the elements within the military, after the 1981 coup attempt, had become distrustful of the King.
That doesn’t jive with the King being part of the previous conspiracy, at least that is my feeling.
There appears to be yet another coup that was due to come into fruition on June 2, 1985 (info in Spanish) – There, the plotters were going to murder the King himself (among a bunch of other people). Thus, I think that chances are Juan Carlos I was not really involved in plotting attempted coups in order to bolster his position.
Just my 2 eurocent, though!
(And sorry --again-- for hijacking!)
Well, whenever I see news coverage of the British royal family in the American media, my immediate reacion is always… “Didn’t we have a revolution 200 years ago so that we wouldn’t have to pay attention to those inbred German dorks any more?”
Of course, I come from an Irish family, so I may be prejudiced…
Last I heard, Dio has a wife & two daughters. So he may have competition for the remote. Thus, he’s heard & seen more about The Royal Wedding than he’d ever wished to know. And he’ll get to learn more before the thing is over!
They seem like nice people and Kate is quite a looker, but beyond that not really.
Three daughters, and you are correct. I seldom have possession of the remote.
I understand your pain. I’ll be watching for coverage like Tom Lorenzo gave a Swedish Royal Wedding. Since I have the misfortune to know what Snooki looks like, I find foreign celebrities a refreshing change.
Left to yourself, you could peacefully avoid the whole affair. Alas, you have responsibilities!
I like BBCamerica’s news but they augment their Serious International Coverage with Frivolous Wedding Stories. And Cricket!
So many of those princes have fancy naval outfits. I assume it has a lot to do with the seamen.
A few of those princes heard about rum, sodomy and the lash, and said, “Where do I sign???”
Really, what’s not to love? And the hats!! To die for.
What’s sad is that until I see things like this thread, I can’t even remember what her name is. And it’s the same as mine!
She’s on Time Magazine this week as “Kate the Great” and I had to look inside to find out who the hell she is. Kate Bosworth? Holmes? Way too young and alive to be Hepburn…
When I learned who they were talking about I felt “the Great” is kind of like Obama’s Nobel in jumping the gun a tad.
Correction to above: Newsweek, not time.
He put himself into that role, though, and politicians suddenly remembered such words as “Spain”.
Nope.
shrug OK! Although I still think that, given the increasingly belligerent attitude of the military towards him in later coup attempts, he wasn’t colluding with the military.
Just my 2 eurocent!
No. I do not care about them or any other British monarchy related press stuff.