Monthly Archives: July 2017
Brexit-the Banquet’s Uninvited guest
In an evening marked by customary tradition, hospitality, and good cheer, the comment by the London’s Lord Mayor Andrew Parmley that ” Britain, Spain, Europe are the essence of what we are” resonated across the banquet room of the Guildhall last night It drew spontaneous applause from the more than 700 guests- City of London councillors and officials, businessmen , ambassadors , and a representative sample of the Spanish diaspora from journalists, actors and academics, to scientists, retailers, and bankers. Noting that the magnificent hall where the guests were gathered …
Diary of a Royal Love In-Day One
It’s coming up to midday and a stationary Guards band along the Mall is playing the James Bond 007 tune, presumably to remind the world that however diminished the UK may seem, no one does it better than the MI6 legend, the world’s most popular spy. The film music is a sufficiently familiar theme for nearby tourists to break into applause. Such recognition does not initially appear to extend to the State visit to the UK of the King Felipe and Queen Letizia Spain. The most public part of …
A Vital European Bridge
A true story I owe to my late Spanish mother, a post-war immigrant to the UK , involves a state visit of the the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, to the UK in October 1954. I was a young child then and with one my first life-time passions that of watching the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The precision of the proud British soldiers in red coats and the uplifting music of their band stirred my imagination, making me feel one of them, as if I’ve stepped into …
Anglo-Spanish Royals
The Spanish Royal visit to the UK An Enduring Relationship Revived Ask your average English schoolboy what he knows about the relations between the Spanish and British Royal families, and the likelihood is that he will mention Spain’s Philip 11nd, and the heroic defeat of his Armada by Queen Elizabeth Ist. A less selective and superficial history will show that relations between British and Spanish royals have been mutually respectful, if not immune to occasional crisis, for over five centuries. As the recent biography of Spain’s great Queen Isabella …
