Spanish king abdicates

[Valmy]

I'm curious to know when we started calling it "Majorca".

Mallorca.  Whatever.  Probably how during the Olympics some dudes decided Turin was crap and we all needed to start calling it Torino.

[derspiess]

I'm curious to know when we started calling it "Majorca".

Mallorca.  Whatever.  Probably how during the Olympics some dudes decided Turin was crap and we all needed to start calling it Torino.

I didn't direct that at you.  I just always knew it as "Mallorca" and "Majorca" looks and sounds silly to me.

[Iormlund]

of Majorca,

Why does Majorca get its own king title?

James I the Conqueror set it up for one of his sons in his will. After proving to be a royal pain in the ass for the Aragonese rulers, it was invaded and reabsorbed by the Crown.

[Valmy]

I'm curious to know when we started calling it "Majorca".

Mallorca.  Whatever.  Probably how during the Olympics some dudes decided Turin was crap and we all needed to start calling it Torino.

I didn't direct that at you.  I just always knew it as "Mallorca" and "Majorca" looks and sounds silly to me.

I was not being defensive about it, just commenting on the question.

[Jacob]

I didn't direct that at you.  I just always knew it as "Mallorca" and "Majorca" looks and sounds silly to me.

I was not being defensive about it, just commenting on the question.
[/quote]

Settle down guys. Enough with the acrimony already.

[Valmy]

Spicey needs to be made aware he has just made an enemy for life.

[The Larch]

Will his son do a good job?  Is he a mediocre mind with little ambition besides empty state ceremony?  Is he boring enough not to embarrass the government?  Is he good looking enough in a bland way to lend glamor to the office?

He's certainly bland and uncontroversial, so I can't see him rocking the boat at all. He also lacks his father's leftover good will from 23 F and his folksy charm, so he has that against him.

[Valmy]

He's certainly bland and uncontroversial, so I can't see him rocking the boat at all.

Seems well qualified then

He also lacks his father's leftover good will from 23 F and his folksy charm, so he has that against him.

Well it is hard for Aristocrats to have folksy charm and certainly no future King of Spain will have the sort of good will Juan Carlos did.  I mean unless it is discovered Kings really can cure Scrofula with their touch.

[The Larch]

Juan Carlos did have a kind of old fashioned folkie charm (campechanía), which made him palatable even for republicans. Then came the elephant hunts and the scandals and that charm didn't help him there.

[The Brain]

What kind of bizarre scandal could possibly involve an elephant hunt?

[Valmy]

Juan Carlos did have a kind of old fashioned folkie charm (campechanía), which made him palatable even for republicans. Then came the elephant hunts and the scandals and that charm didn't help him there.

If aristocrats can no longer hunt what would they do with their time?  I guess play polo or tennis or race cars.

[Valmy]

What kind of bizarre scandal could possibly involve an elephant hunt?

[Grey Fox]

Unless the Scots are particularly Republican, I don't know.

I'm guessing they are.

I doubt it.  The fact the Royals would remain figure heads of Scotland seems to be a given assumption.

It works fine in canada, australia and new zealand

in fact the royals have been preparing for this for a long time
they haven't reall considered themselves to be any more english than anything else.

The Princess Royal Has been living at Holyrood palace for decades now.

Don't tell that to Viper.

[The Larch]

Juan Carlos did have a kind of old fashioned folkie charm (campechanía), which made him palatable even for republicans. Then came the elephant hunts and the scandals and that charm didn't help him there.

If aristocrats can no longer hunt what would they do with their time?  I guess play polo or tennis or race cars.

It was well known that he hunted, and there had been previous controversies about this a few years ago (apparently he once hunted a bear in Russia that had been drugged for him so he'd be able to get his shot), but this one crossed the line for the Spanish public. For years it had ignored plenty of peccadilloes (mistresses, friendships with shady businessmen, and so on), and there was a pact of silence in Spanish media about this, but big game hunting almost straight out of XIXth century stories crossed the line. And we only found out because he slipped and broke his hip during the trip, if he hadn't we would never have heard about it.

[MadImmortalMan]

You can ignore all that other stuff, but shoot a bear and there's hell to pay?   


Sounds like CdM's kind of country.