Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Letizia and her sisters-in-law

The Sunday Times (August 29) featured a story by Matthew Campbell about tensions in the Spanish royal family.

The Spanish monarchy, according to Campbell, is "good at protecting its privacy." This "clamlike institution" has not been able to keep "the feud of the infantas" out of the gossip magazines.
It seems that King Juan Carlos' two daughters, Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina, are "at loggerheads" with their sister-in-law, Letizia, the Princess of Asturias.

Letizia, married to the Prince of Asturias, has a "steely obstinacy and drive," which marks her "doe-eyed good looks and softly spoken demeanour, and avoids meeting her sisters-in-law.
Elena and Cristina have strived "to steer clear" of Letizia, who will one day be Queen. When they learned that Letizia was going to attend a luncheon for Michelle Obama, the American First Lady, Elena and Cristina decided to postpone their arrival until after Letizia departed.
Matthew Campbell notes that "speculation abounds about the cause of the frost," but the situation is leading to questions about the monarchy itself.
King Juan Carlos is very popular, but, as one monarchist noted, "Felipe and his wife will have to work hard to win the public's devotion."
The feud may have started in 2005, when Infanta Cristina asked her brother and his wife if they would put up Cristina's in-laws, who were in Madrid for the christening of their granddaughter.
Letizia declined Cristina's request. She also did not allow her two daughters to attend the first communion of Elena's daughter, Victoria. Letizia said she did not want her daughters, Leonor and Sofia, to "miss a day of school."
Felipe and Letizia were also unable to attend the service as they were on an official visit to Colombia.
One palace source describes the Prince of Asturias, a former TV journalist, as a strong character, "somewhat in contrast to Felipe, who is much calmer, who normally does not like to provoke tensions."

On August 25, the Prince and Princess of Asturias attended the wedding of Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Tatiana Blatnik. Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina were also present, but according to witnesses, "they did not acknowledge each other, let alone kiss or shake hands."

It is said that Queen Sofia supports Letizia, in order to maintain close relations with Felipe.

The article was titled: "King's despair at feud of infantas: as monarchist sympathies fade, Spain is spellbound by a quarrel tearing the royal family in two."
I cannot provide a link because the online edition of The Sunday Times is no longer available for reading without a pre-paid subscription.

1 comment:

John said...

This almost sounds like the quarrels of my three sisters!