SPAIN: Spain's scandal-hit royals pin hopes on prince

 AFP - Losing popularity and besieged by a corruption scandal that has reached an official in the palace itself, Spain's royals are looking to the dashing heir to the throne, Prince Felipe, to save their image.

 

At 75, King Juan Carlos shows no sign of abdicating as his contemporary Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has done -- but he said in a recent interview that Felipe was "well prepared" to take over when the time comes.

The palace spent last year turning Felipe, who turned 45 on Wednesday, into its most visible public representative. He had more official engagements than any other member of the family in 2012, while Juan Carlos recovered from operations to replace both hips -- one due to a fall during a luxury elephant-hunting safari in Botswana, for which he apologised to the nation.

Felipe spent part of his 45th birthday on Wednesday charming the crowds as he inaugurated a tourism fair in Madrid. In line with the palace's new recession-era regimen, no official celebration was announced.

A typical item on his diary of official engagements, it received less media coverage than the other news story concerning the palace: a corruption case affecting Felipe's brother-in-law, Inaki Urdangarin.

An investigating judge ruled on Wednesday that Urdangarin and an associate must post eight million euros ($11 million) in civil bail, while waiting to see if they will go on trial accused of embezzling public funds.

 

Separately, the palace reacted to the judge's decision to summon Carlos Garcia Revenga, secretary to the king's daughters Elena and Cristina -- Urdangarin's wife -- to be questioned in the case.

The palace said it was keeping Garcia in his post and would take no action until he goes before the judge on February 23 -- when Urdangarin himself is also due to appear, for the second time.

Juan Carlos won wide respect for helping guide Spain to democracy as a parliamentary monarchy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, and for helping quell an attempted military coup in 1981.

It is a hard act for Felipe to follow. A generation after those historic events, the palace faces a challenge to convince the nation that the monarchy is still needed.

A poll in early January by El Mundo newspaper showed support for the monarchy as an institution overall fell to a record low of 54 percent.

Felipe said in a speech in 2011 that he wanted to "constantly adapt and adjust the institution to the times we are living in, working to unite our history with our future, to link our traditions to a cutting-edge spirit and progress".

The towering prince -- who according to Spanish media is 1.97 metres (almost six feet, five inches) tall -- appears smiling and approachable when greeting the public and can give speeches in English with a cut-glass English accent.

His wife Letizia, a former television journalist, and their blonde daughters, the Infantas Leonor, eight, and Sofia, five, are darlings of the glossy celebrity magazines.

Observers say Felipe needs to work his charms still harder to win over a sceptical nation, currently suffering its worst economic hardship since Juan Carlos helped steer the country to democracy in the late 1970s.

Abdication by Juan Carlos would be a risky move currently, "with the Urdangarin case up in the air and with Felipe still not having broken the wall that separates him from the public", said Pilar Urbano, a prominent author specialising in royal matters.

"Letizia represents an opportunity to make the monarchy more sociable. It is still all about balconies, protocol and the throne," she said.

"It would be good to see them both out shopping in the sales."

Dutch Queen to Abdicate in April

 

MOSCOW, January 29 (RIA Novosti) - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has announced she will step down in favor of her son, Prince Willem Alexander, on April 30, DutchNews portal reported.

The queen said in a short address on national television and radio on Monday that it was the right time to pass the reins of power to “a new generation,” as her son is ready to be king.

“I have been thinking about it for some time,” the queen said. “I am not standing down because the role is too heavy for me, but in the conviction that responsibility for our country should now lie with a new generation.”

Queen Beatrix, who will soon be 75, enjoys high approval ratings and is considered one of the most popular ruling monarchs in Europe.

Belgium King Albert II Christmas speech sparks controversy

The Belgian king has provoked a sharp response to a Christmas message in which he drew parallels with the rise of fascism in the 1930s.

Albert II warned against the dangers of populists seeking scapegoats for current economic difficulties.

Flemish separatist leader Bart De Wever assumed the remarks were aimed at him and said he had overstepped his role.

Belgian political experts and commentators argued that the broadcast had intervened in political debate.

In his broadcast, the king said that "in these troubled times we live in, we should remain vigilant and see through populist arguments".

Populists were, he said, "trying to find scapegoats for the crisis, whether foreigners or compatriots from another part of the country".

Such thinking persisted in Belgium as much as in other European countries and "the crisis of the 1930s and the populist reactions of that time must not be forgotten", the king said.

Belgium has a deepening divide between its Flemish (Dutch-speaking) north and French-speaking south, and there has been speculation that the country could ultimately break up.

'Hiding behind the throne'

Mr De Wever, whose New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party made big gains in elections in October and is now the biggest political force in Flemish-speaking Flanders, accused the king of "implicitly" referring to the N-VA in his speech.

On Belgian radio he accused Belgium's French-speaking PM, Elio Di Rupo, of "hiding behind the throne", arguing that he must have seen an advance copy of the speech and given it the green light.In a newspaper article in De Standaard, he accused the king of choosing "the path of a royalty of division", adding in a later broadcast interview that he could no longer see the monarch as playing the constitutional role of referee.

"[Di Rupo] won't say I'm a fascist but apparently believes it and lets the king say it," Mr De Wever said.

The separatist leader also took a swipe at a predecessor of Albert's, Belgium's wartime King Leopold III (then a prisoner of war), who met Adolf Hitler "for coffee" at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria in 1940 and took Belgium "to the brink of civil war".

'Bridge too far'

Mr De Wever's angry remarks followed a series of objections from political commentators and academics.

Prof Carl Devos of Ghent University said that the passage of the speech should have been dropped, while monarchy expert Prof Mark Van den Wijngaert said a comparison with the 30s was "a bridge too far".

But another Flemish political leader, socialist Bruno Tobback, said the monarch was merely expressing what other European heads of state had said in their Christmas messages.

Sociologist Benoit Scheuer told La Libre Belgique that it was fine for the king to warn of the dangers of populism, although he believed the major democratic parties should speak out as well.

King Albert has taken a strong position before on Belgium's political difficulties and the monarch does traditionally play a role in attempting to resolve constitutional problems.

In July 2011, Albert gave an emotional televised address, appealing to political leaders to display "modern citizenship" to bring an end to a drawn-out crisis, which left the country without an elected government for a world-record one-and-a-half years.

In an apparent foretaste of his controversial Christmas message, the king warned viewers at the time that if their political impasse remained unresolved, they risked the emergence of a form of "poujadism", referring to a right-wing populist movement in 1950s France.