Spanish king criticized for going elephant hunting in Africa as nation reels in economic pain.

I know this is a few days old, but today the Congress has approved a series of questions to the Government about the issue.

This piece of news also highlights some other controversial events in the life of this "man" that some people here are proud to call their king. You'll have to follow the link to read the whole thing (I removed some parts, here).

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MADRID — Spain’s 74-year-old king came under scathing criticism Sunday for going on an expensive elephant hunting trip in Botswana amid the nation’s deep financial woes.

Making matters worse, an accident on the trip sent King Juan Carlos into surgery. Doctors said Sunday that he was recovering well after a hip replacement but would not be able to resume full duties for more than a month.

Spanish newspapers were filled with accounts of how hunting trips to Botswana, where Juan Carlos fell, cost more than most Spaniards earn in a year. El Pais, Spain’s leading newspaper, said the cost to arrange a hunting trip in Botswana to kill an elephant usually comes in at €44,000 ($57,850), about twice the country’s average annual salary.

Spain is currently perceived as the weakest link in the 17-nation eurozone, and many investors fear it could become the next country to seek an international bailout. But the country with eurozone’s No. 4 economy is seen as too big to bail out. Unemployment stands at nearly 23 percent — nearly 50 percent for young workers — and Spain is expected to slide into its second recession in three years soon.

Citing royal spokesman Rafael Spottorno, El Mundo said the king had not told Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government of his trip abroad until after the accident.

“The prime minister must know at all times where the head of state is,” El Mundo said in an editorial.

United Left lawmaker Cayo Lara said he would ask questions about the trip in parliament, saying the king had shown “a lack of ethics” by going to hunt big game as many young Spaniards faced unemployment.

This is not the first time the aging monarch’s love of hunting has caused concern. In October 2006, a Russian governor launched an inquiry into reports that Juan Carlos had shot and killed a bear while on holiday near Moscow.

Vyacheslav Pozgalyov, governor of the Vologda region northeast of Moscow, had reportedly received a letter from the region’s deputy hunting chief, Sergei Starostin, claiming a bear had been fed honey mixed with vodka before being released near where the king was to hunt.
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Full story here: www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/spanish-king-criticized-f​or-going-elephant-hunting-in-africa-as-nation-reels-in-econom​ic-pain/2012/04/15/gIQAsy9EJT_story.html

By the way, I'm a Republican and I don't like this king. And when I say Republican I mean it in the most orthodox way (a person who doesn't agree with monarchy), not as in USA politics.

Last Edited by Who. on 04/24/2012 09:30 AM