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.''
From the official royal website:
Since completing his academic studies in the United States, Prince Felipe has fulfilled his institutional commitments in his capacity as Heir to the Crown, chaired many official events in Spain and participated in key events in different sectors and aspects of Spanish public life.
Since October 1995, he has made a series of official visits to the Spanish Autonomous Communities with a view to gaining in-depth knowledge of Spain and making contact with other Spaniards.
He holds regular meetings with constitutional bodies and the main State institutions in order to keep in touch with their activities. He also attends meetings of the various bodies of the Central Administration and of the Autonomous Communities as required by his national and international institutional activities.
He grants public and private audiences to a large number of people with a view to receiving up-to-date information on national and international affairs. In particular, he holds meetings with people close to his own generation with outstanding careers in political, economic, cultural and media circles.
When HM the King is unable to attend, he presides over the annual presentation of despatches to Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of the Armed Forces, and participates in military exercises held by the three Services.
He has made many official visits to European countries and to Latin America as well as to countries in the Arab world, the Far East and Australasia. He shows special interest in all matters related to the European Union, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America. Since January 1996, the Prince of Asturias has represented the Spanish State at the swearing-in ceremonies for Latin American Presidents.
He has also played a very active role in the promotion of Spain's economic and commercial interests and of Spanish language and culture in foreign countries. He frequently presides at economic and trade fairs held by Spain abroad (Expotecnia, Expoconsumo and Expohabitat) and is especially interested in promoting the creation of Centres and University Chairs to disseminate the history and current situation of Spain in the main foreign universities.
In addition to his official activities, Prince Felipe is the Honorary President of several Associations and Foundations and collaborates closely with them. The most important of these is the Prince of Asturias Foundation, for which he annually presents the Awards bearing his name that have great international prestige.
Within the framework of these institutions which work towards aims of general interest, he focuses his interest on activities in the fields of development projects, voluntary work, the environment, universities, the integration of young people in the workplace and business, relations between business circles and society and social communication.
On the occasion of the United Nations declaration of 2001 as the International Year of Volunteers, the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, named Prince Felipe an "Eminent Person" so that he could contribute on an international level towards enhancing the importance of voluntary workers.
A keen sportsman, he was a member of the Spanish Olympic sailing team in the Soling class in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, finishing in sixth position and obtaining an Olympic Diploma. During the opening ceremony, he paraded with the Spanish flag at the head of the Spanish team.
Why do they even have one?
Given the answer to your first question above, it really shouldn't be necessary to answer this, but I will anyway. Spain has a crown prince because the monarchy is a vital part of the Spanish national heritage, and most Spaniards are sensible enough to see that it should be retained.
And just look at it.
Excellent point! Thank you for your informative and intelligent post. For more information on the world's monarchies, you may wish to visit this page of my website:
Speak for yourself. This American would be quite happy to bow to Prince Felipe or any other European royal if I had the opportunity. One can acknowledge the equality of human souls without insisting that people should have equal status in this life. Equality is a dangerous notion which too often has only led to violence, because people are naturally unequal. Inequality cannot be stamped out, no matter how much neo-Jacobins might like it to be, so one might as well acknowlege it with titles as the Europeans do (or did). I for one believe that a hierarchical society is far more natural (and conducive to cultural achievement) than either an egalitarian or meritocratic one.
(I realize that you are not an egalitarian in the same sense that Leftists are; however, I believe that the goals of egalitarianism and meritocracy have the same misguided root and are closer to each other than their adherents would like to think.)
I just believe that Americans, by recognizing in our founding documents the equal dignity we share as human beings and in the eyes of God our Creator, owe no obeisance to any earthly monarch.
Well, no, not in the sense of owing them allegiance. However I think it is appropriate for Americans to treat foreign dignitaries, including royalty, with the respect generally accorded to persons of their station. Being a patriotic American does not require disparaging the customs of other countries. Actually I think you understand this, but some here apparently do not.
The biggest trouble with a hereditary monarchy, as I see it, is that the heart of mankind is wicked.
How is this not also an argument against democracy (or republicanism, if you prefer)? If a king can be wicked, so can the electorate.
For every Hezekiah, Constantine, Alfred the Great and St. Louis IX who has graced the stage of world history, there are at least a few Jeroboams, Caligulas, John I's and Louis XIV's who were complete egotistical wastrels.
And for every George Washington, there's at least a few Bill Clintons.
The truth is, no system of government is perfect. Many people have the misconception that to be a monarchist is to believe that all or most kings are good and that therefore to cite examples of bad kings is an argument against monarchy. But monarchists make no such claim; we merely hold that heredity stacks up better than presidential elections as a way to select a head of state. Plus we generally have a reverence for Tradition for its own sake and a strong emotional attachment to the trappings, pageantry and rituals of monarchy which survive even today, when most surviving monarchies have lost their power.
Not any more A$$HOLES! Who pulled out of Iraq and left the rest of us with a reinvigorated enemy to battle?
Because our country can kick the living sh*t out of their country's military and they better remember it.
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