Posted on 06/02/2014 7:54:21 AM PDT by ghost of stonewall jackson
MADRID, June 2 (Reuters) - Spain's King Juan Carlos said on Monday he would abdicate in favour of his son Prince Felipe, aiming to revive the scandal-hit monarchy at a time of economic hardship and growing discontent with the wider political elite.
"A new generation is quite rightly demanding to take the lead role," Juan Carlos, 76, said on television, hours after a surprise announcement from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that the monarch would step down after almost 40 years on the throne.
The once popular Juan Carlos, who helped smooth Spain's transition to democracy in the 1970s after the Francisco Franco dictatorship, seemed increasingly out of touch in recent years.
He took a secret luxury elephant-hunting trip to Botswana in 2012, a time when one in four Spanish workers was jobless and the government teetered on the brink of default.
A corruption scandal in the family and his visible infirmity after repeated surgery in recent years have also eroded public support. Polls show greater support for the low-key Felipe, 46, who has not been tarnished by the corruption allegations.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I was going to say, who needs a monarchy and maybe Spain should just abolish theirs.
But then I remembered we have a king and queen too.
In fairness to Juan Carlos he didn’t elect socialist scum to run his nation in the ground. He didn’t vote to create a massive welfare state which incentivizes a quarter of the population of his nation to stay employed. he didn’t create a confiscastory tax scheme which squeezes out innovation and private enterprise.
¿El rey de que? ¿Los musulmánes?
The new queen is a looker.
Hereditary monarchy is stupid. It should be eliminated.
Hereditary monarchy is stupid. It should be eliminated.
Not so sure about that.
King George III was a saint compared to what we are stuck with today.
What are luxury elephants? Never heard of them before...
It works for a lot of countries.
There is no intrinsic tribal identity in Spain, it is a collection of ethnic groups. The Spanish state as such is generally despised and always has been. There is considerable loyalty to the monarchy though. The US got away without such a structure as here the loyalty is to a philosophical idea.
That is not true elsewhere. In Spain in former times the monarchy did make the Catholic church such a unifying idea, as Spain became halfway to a theocracy, but that has long since worn off.
How true that is!
“Hereditary monarchy is stupid. “
Elected monarchies don’t have a lot going for them either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
