# The King of Spain tells Chavez to shut up, and other Iberoamerican Summit weirdness **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 12, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131 "2007-11-12T14:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/41 "2007-11-13T17:24:18Z")
Unless you follow the logic of [these people](http://www.hawaiiankingdom.org/index.shtml) who appear to be trying to bootstrap themselves into ruling Hawaii after throwing the US occupation forces out. The interesting part is, I could find no where on their site where they say they are working with any of the former royal family. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/42 "2007-11-13T18:01:43Z")
[QUOTE=lalenin] The King of Spain is probably the coolest monarch alive. [/QUOTE] Even if he wasn’t before, telling Hugo to shut his piehole would clinch that title. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/43 "2007-11-20T01:24:19Z")
Nava, I heard or read somewhere discussion of legislation to provide that after Juan Carlos I is gone, his “5-star” rank and CinC authority (which were part of what Franco handed to him) would devolve into merely ceremonial/symbolic attributes for Felipe V and that in general terms, Felipe V’s status would become more like that of most other Euromonarchs, just a symbolic figure. What’s the SD on that? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/44 "2007-11-20T02:37:31Z")
> [@gardentraveler](#): > > I don’t know much about Spanish politics, so I have no idea what Zapatero is like outside of this instance, but I looked at a few related videos and found this one, which shows all of what Zapatero was trying to say. It’s admirable that he was able to remain civilized and attempt to communicate while others were clearly only there to hear their own voices. And yes, the King of Spain is cool. My limited understanding of Zapatero, gleaned mostly from European soccer magazines, is that he’s not the most popular PM in Spain’s history. > [@Lok](#): > > But Juan Carlos is definitely one of the best. A bit of an understatement, considering that the man single-handedly created a democracy out of thin air when he could’ve just as easily had the entire country at his beck and call instead. And while other monarchs parade around looking pretty and having sex with their relatives all day on enormous public paychecks, the Royal Family there has dedicated itself to maintaining democracy in an area known for regular intervals of radical upheaval. As far as I’m concerned, Juan Carlos is the Thomas Jefferson of Spain. > [@Raguleader](#): > > and then it’s one big blank until the Spanish Civil War, then another big blank punctuated by “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” being made there in the 60’s. A lot of spaghetti Westerns were made in Andalucia, the Autonomous Community in which Seville is located. The desert region within that state is just like the American West in a lot of ways, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/45 "2007-11-20T03:23:44Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Well, he is fluent in English. (His grandmother was a British princess). [/QUOTE] > [@NinjaChick](#): > > My goodness I’m learning too much from this thread! Here’s an interesting fact about the aforementioned British granny, Princess Victoria Eugenia (known as Ena), granddaughter of Queen Victora. She had possibly the most horrific wedding ever: “After the church service, Alfonso and Ena’s state carriage wended its way along with forty other equipages past the thousands of thunderingly ecstatic witnesses who packed the old heart of the city [Madrid]. One Mateo Morral, who had just barely been kept out of the wedding ceremony itself and thereby lost the chance to blow up half of Europe’s royalty with the bomb he was carrying, now took the opportunity to throw the same bomb from a third-floor balcony overlooking the procession. It exploded just ahead of the front wheels and behind the rear pair of horses. A shard of the bomb hit Alfonso’s uniformed chest, one of his medals blunting the bit of shrapnel. However, a mounted guard serving as an outrider outside the new Queen Ena’s seat was instantly decapitated, his blood splashing from his headless corpse all over Ena’s weeding dress as though a can of red paint had been overturned on her. She was, miraculously uninjured – at least physically. Outside the carriage, thirty-seven people were dead, a hundred more injured.” Jerrold M. Packard, _Victoria’s Daughters_. This awful event, on May 31, 1906, would be an omen of what would be a remarkably unhappy marriage. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/46 "2007-11-20T04:42:34Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] My limited understanding of Zapatero, gleaned mostly from European soccer magazines, is that he’s not the most popular PM in Spain’s history. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure, but he was pretty well liked initially for promising to get Spain out of America’s military experiments and then doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/47 "2007-11-20T10:30:48Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Indeed-one of them was the mayor of Palm Beach. But I don’t know if he counts, since he died a few years ago. [/QUOTE] _Sonny Bono???_ No wonder they overthrew the Tsar! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/48 "2007-11-20T18:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] I’m not sure, but he was pretty well liked initially for promising to get Spain out of America’s military experiments and then doing so. [/QUOTE] I could very well be thinking of someone else, or it could have been something soccer-specific. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/49 "2007-11-20T21:09:11Z")
Cambodia has a [king.](http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/65/King_Of_Cambodia.html) As per usual he’s just a figure head. I love the thread, we’re kicking ignorance’s ass today. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/50 "2007-11-20T22:38:49Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] _Sonny Bono???_ No wonder they overthrew the Tsar! 😉 [/QUOTE] Bono was the mayor of Palm Springs not Palm Beach. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/51 "2007-11-20T22:42:54Z")
[QUOTE=Annie] [Once I was the King of Spain. Now I work at Pizza Pizza!](http://youtube.com/watch?v=gfp5x1IDm_8)😛 [/QUOTE] Good Lord - Another fruvhead! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/52 "2007-11-21T02:01:03Z")
Hey Spanish Dopers, will you lend us Carlos Roy for a while? Please? 😃 Such a cool dude. 🆒_Cajones_, too. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/53 "2007-11-21T05:26:09Z")
[QUOTE=JRDelirious] Nava, I heard or read somewhere discussion of legislation to provide that after Juan Carlos I is gone, his “5-star” rank and CinC authority (which were part of what Franco handed to him) would devolve into merely ceremonial/symbolic attributes for Felipe V and that in general terms, Felipe V’s status would become more like that of most other Euromonarchs, just a symbolic figure. What’s the SD on that? [/QUOTE] AFAIK, that’s just one of the many Constitutional changes floating around. Proposed by those who would llike to off the Monarchy completely but don’t dare say it out loud. The Prince is a graduate of ALL three Military Academies, specifically in preparation for being CiC. The Republican presidents were CiCs too, as were Kings before this one… I have no idea what you mean with the “5-star rank”. 5-star general? Once you’re Commander in Chief, it doesn’t really matter how many stars you have; after all, the American CiC is a civilian. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131/54 "2007-11-21T05:33:23Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] I’m not sure, but he was pretty well liked initially for promising to get Spain out of America’s military experiments and then doing so. [/QUOTE] Well-liked by half of the country… as usual; Machado’s Two Spains still exist, only they’re 26 now (two times thirteen Autonomous Regions). Two days before he got elected, nobody expected him to win; while most people did want out of Irak, it wasn’t seen as important as… well, for example his lack of spine. He’s one of those “let’s all kiss up and be friends!” kind of guys. Then 173 people were killed by the Madrid bombs (172 according to ZP’s government, the difference is due to a pregnant woman) and a lot of people who hadn’t intended to vote went and did, changing the results. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-king-of-spain-tells-chavez-to-shut-up-and-other-iberoamerican-summit-weirdness/426131.md?page=2)