Royal News Roundup

Starting in the land of the setting sun, HM King Juan Carlos was showing his humorous side even during the difficult times of his hip-replacement surgery. He told his doctor how he had played a practical joke on his doctors at La Zarzuela by putting bandages on and splashing his head with antiseptic and telling them he had fallen down again, just to see a second of a panic in their eyes before he started roaring with laughter. He also gave a shock to the wife of his surgeon (a Galician who resides primarily in Minnesota) when he called to talk to the doctor. His wife answered the phone and was rather shocked when the voice at the other end said, “This is the King. King Juan Carlos.” In the Low Countries, alarm was raised in Belgium when a Francophone daily received a letter threatening to kidnap Crown Princess Elisabeth. The issue is still being investigated by the author was enraged by the economic situation and blamed the problems on the growing Muslim and North African population in Belgium. The letter claimed that 30 billion euros a year were spent on foreigners and was addressed to King Philip saying “You and your government are doing nothing about this.” Security for the princess has been increased as a result. King Philip also apologized this week to the families of the victims of traffic accidents after granting royal pardons to a number of people of traffic-related offenses. Several pressure groups spoke of afterward in protest against this, saying the King was undermining traffic safety. And, in The Netherlands, there was a big celebration for the 200th anniversary of the Kingdom, marking 200 years since the soon-to-be King Willem I landed at Scheveningen on November 30, 1813. The Dutch government also passed legislation this week officially calling for Queen Maxima to assume the post of regent should (God forbid) anything happen to the King before the Crown Princess has reached her majority.

In Britain, Prince William seemed to be playing a lot of sports this week and Prince Harry continues his trek to the south pole. Princess Michael Kent (I do like her so) gave a rather humorous interview in which she talked about her new Cambridge neighbors at Kensington Palace, how her marriage had first been somewhat arranged by the late Lord Mountbatten and that she gave her husband a list of three suitable women she deemed worthy of marrying him if she is to predecease the Prince. In the formerly colonial world, a group of African tribesmen in Kenya presented a fatted calf to the British High Commissioner in honor of the birth of Prince George of Cambridge. The Duke and Duchess responded with a letter of thanks written in Swahili. It was also revealed this week that Duchess Catherine will be taking her mother along to help look after Prince George during their upcoming visit to Australia. And, on a similar note, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall both visited the Australia Exhibition this week. In other northern royal news, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway were photographed for a charity’s Facebook page this week and the couple were all smiles, casting considerable doubt on the rumors last week that a royal separation was imminent. Also, our congratulations go to Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway who celebrated his 8th birthday on Tuesday. And, actually the week before last, the King of Sweden was in Kyoto, Japan for the Baden-Powell Fellowship and he seemed to have a great deal of fun with the local Boy Scouts. The King is the honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation.

In East Asia it was a very busy royal news week. TM the Emperor and Empress of Japan began their visit to India and it seems to be going very well with a majority of Indian papers coming out in favor of a closer relationship with Japan. On Saturday HIH Prince Akishino celebrated his 48th birthday and on Sunday HIH Princess Toshi celebrated her 12th birthday. In more troubling news, at the ceremony welcoming back Their Majesties from India, HIH Princess Akiko (daughter of the late HIH Prince Tomohito) fainted and, as a result, had to cancel a planned trip to Hawaii. In better news HIH Crown Princess Masako is said to be improving in her health and is taking on more official duties. HIH celebrates her 50th birthday today. And there was great celebration amidst the turmoil in the Kingdom of Thailand this week as the revered monarch, HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great, celebrated his 86th birthday on Thursday. In his birthday remarks the King called for “calm and reason” amidst the protests that have been shaking the country. These, however, are not the sort of protests most are familiar with these days. Protestors are upset over efforts by the government to circumvent the law and have called for a larger role for the monarchy.