MMmmm, yes, the Infanta Cristina, she's yummy... 
The Infanta Elena, on the other hand... well let's just say you can tell that she and Prince Charles are related.
-ccm
Posted on 04/10/2004 4:39:59 AM PDT by JesseHousman
An international incident is touched off when Miami airport screeners insist on examining the luggage of the successor to the Spanish throne and his entourage.
Crown Prince Felipe of Spain and his fiancée pitched a royal fit at Miami International Airport Thursday night, when screeners insisted on searching the future king's luggage -- just as they would any Average Joe's.
Members of the prince's entourage called the required inspection of their private belongings an ''insult'' and ''humiliating'' -- sparking a diplomatic flap that has the United States and Spain on the brink of a protocol war.
Crowning it off, Iberia Airlines, the prince's carrier of choice, is suggesting it might pull out of the airport, according to two sources close to the international incident.
Now, Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas has sent the Prince of Asturias, next in line for the throne, an apology, saying he's asked for an investigation into what went wrong.
Thursday's diplomatic dust-up occurred when the tall, blue-eyed, 36-year-old Prince Felipe de Borbón and his beautiful bride-to-be, Letizia Ortiz, 31, a well-known TV newscaster, flew into MIA to catch a connecting flight home.
The couple and four bodyguards landed at MIA around 5 p.m. on a private chartered jet from Nassau. They were booked on a 6 p.m. Iberia Airlines flight to Madrid.
Whether the prince gave U.S. diplomatic officials enough notice of his arrival is at the heart of the problem.
The U.S. State Department requires 72 hours notice to arrange for expedited security screening in a private area. The prince's people called with six hours notice.
When members of the royal party were told that they and their carry-ons would have to be searched -- just like the masses -- the royal flap erupted.
''We're your allies!'' one member of the royal delegation shouted in Spanish to inspectors at a particularly tense moment.
But according to Lauren Stover, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, the screeners were only doing their jobs. The mandates of the Department of Homeland Security following Sept. 11 require that all commercial airline passengers be screened -- even the princely ones.
''The prince and his bodyguard felt they should not be subjected to the screening, but if they do not have an escort from the State Department or the Secret Service, it is required,'' Stover said. ``It's the law.''
To accommodate blue-blooded sensibilities, the TSA gave the group a choice of a quick public screening or a slower but private one away from commoners. The royal entourage chose a private screening and the group was taken to an American Airlines' lounge.
Stover said three ''top-notch screeners with VIP experience'' and two supervisors rushed to the lounge to conduct the search.
The need by the princess-to-be to go the powder room caused another flare-up. Ortiz was told her already-searched purse would be searched again on her return from the nonsecure area. She decided to hold it.
That sparked more angry words and exchanges, delaying the process and making the entire royal party late for the flight, which waited.
At one point, Milton Oribe, Iberia's station manager, said he would ignore the required screening, come what may, witnesses said.
Oribe also offered to vouch for the prince and his entourage, adding that he would see to it that the Spanish carrier withdrew from MIA, according to witnesses on the scene.
Mayor Penelas, calling the brouhaha a ''lamentable situation,'' immediately sent a letter of apology to the the royal family and pointed out those doing the screening were federal employees.
''The facts I have received thus far indicate an apparent disregard for protocol and disrespect of His Highness and his delegation. . . . I have called upon our County Manager to conduct a complete investigation into this matter,'' Penelas wrote in a letter dated Thursday.
An official of the Spanish Consulate in Miami said Friday that it will be up to Consul General Javier Vallaure to decide whether a complaint will be sent to the U.S. State Department.
''We don't consider this the proper way to treat our future king; it's a breach of protocol,'' said the consular official, who would not give his name.
Said Stover: ``Had anything happened on that flight to the prince or anyone on that aircraft because we decided to relax our screening processes, that would have been catastrophic and a complete failure on our part.''
Uh-hum, *correction*.
..were our allies.
Seriously... (and I'm not kidding, or being snippy or anyting.. )
If I were an airport screener, and this Prince (and his entire entourage) appeared, I can guarantee that I would be able to recognize a Diplomatic Passport and would understand his "relative" importance by the fact he has an armed security detail ( do you think the Crown Prince of Spain goes anywhere at all without armed bodyguards? Not hardly.. ) with him, as well as aides, secretaries, etc., etc., etc...
I would also have enough sense to contact my superiors, and indicate (suggest) to them that "this looks like a job for Superman", and at least TRY to get them to get someone familiar with Diplomatic Protocol on the scene, ASAP..
Which, it appears from the article, someone did have sense enough to do... after the fact..
Stover said three ''top-notch screeners with VIP experience'' and two supervisors rushed to the lounge to conduct the search.
Problem is, the air screeners had already demanded to search their luggage, and created an international incident..
The supervisors probably reacted by backing up their people.. I don't really blame them at the gut level.. You have to back up your screeners in 99% of the cases..
You would think that someone in the State Dept. though, would have had the sense, even with "only" 6 hours notice, to have someone there to meet the plane, and assist the prince et al, with airport protocols...
Then again, maybe it was done on purpose.. A little retaliation for recent developments in Spain..
Finally, we are not appraised of the reason for such "short" notice, and quick return to Spain..
Possible political concerns? National Security?
Been a lot of bombing going on there lately.. Maybe threats had been made?
Spain is in a very tense situation right now.. change of government, terrorism..
There may very well have been reason for him to be in a hurry, and upset at delays..
Just my opinion..
Assuming that this line is not apocryphal, would you have this quote in the original Spanish? It is definitely not easily translatable.
The English translation I used was from John Bergamini, "The Spanish Bourbons", page 17.
There are various old Spanish translations of the Aragonese coronation oath including:
"Nos, que cada uno valemos tanto como vos, y que juntos podemos más que vos, os ofrecemos obediencia si mantenéis nuestros fueros y libertades; y si no, no." (We, who each is worth as much as thee, and who together are more powerful than thee, offer our obedience to thee if thou shalt maintain our traditional rights and liberties: and if no, not.)
"Nos, que no somos menos que vos y que todos juntos valemos más que vos, os juramos fidelidad como Rey siempre que vos, respeteís nuestros fueros y tradiciones. Y si no, no". (We, who are no less than thee and who together are worth more than thee, swear loyalty to thee as King so long as thou shalt respect our rights and traditions. And if not, not.)
Notice how I said "old Spanish translations".
The versions above are in old Castillian (old Spanish). The actual oath would have been either in old Aragonese or old Catalan which I don't speak :-)
My suggestion to you, Pubis, would be to read the comment to which I was responding.
Lighten up. Someone might think you have an axe to grind on Holy Saturday.
Eric, you've got it right!
Pooh. No more so than British and Americans. In fact, Mexicans from northern states like Sonora speak a particularly clear and understandable form of Spanish, sort of like Midwestern English.
No doubt there are members of Indian tribes in the South that speak poor Spanish, and there are second and third generation Mexican-Americans who have trouble speaking well in spanish OR English, but Spaniards can understand Mexicans perfectly well. If they pretend not to, it is a manifestation of racism against the darker-skinned provincials. (As my Mexican-American teacher of Spanish told me on a high school trip to Madrid.)
MMmmm, yes, the Infanta Cristina, she's yummy...
The Infanta Elena, on the other hand... well let's just say you can tell that she and Prince Charles are related.
-ccm
Off topic, but that is a scary statement. My two sons had the same experience in their respective engineering schools. In fact, one was goaded into going for his PhD in Engineering by an Egyptian prof who pointed out that there are hardly any American males in the engineering progrms anywhere any more. Now, do you wonder why our technological edge is slipping overseas?
"That is my great-great-grandaughter, Sir. We are not amused."
--Thomas Paine, Common Sense
Exactly the lines I was thinking along . . . Except her purse had already been searched, and she wanted to leave the secure area with it and not have it searched when she came back. Sounds she and the prancing prince were trying like crazy to get a couple of "keys" of coke past customs with the help of someone in her entourage and it didn't work. Hence the second hissy fit.
And her decision to "hold it" fits in with all this . . . Why bother going to the bathroom if you don't really "have to go?" Also, I notice the article doesn't say where their private jet was coming from . . . Columbia, perhaps? Customs would've know if they had just come from the dope capitol of the world.
I don't know why it is . . . But mention celebrity and I automatically think dope, lol!
Makes much more sense, and is more in line with the spirit of the Magna Carta.
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