chuchu said:
I like the fact that Felipe and Letizia are a team.
I don't think that Felipe and Letizia would be thought of any less as a team if she did a solo act now and then. When Sofia does an act alone I don't think the team of Juan Carlos and Sofia are broken or divided. Nobody is advocating that she does only solo acts from this point on and never appears at acts with Felipe.
I think that even though the Spanish people knew Letizia before her marriage in her capacity as a journalist they also get to know her as she is now in her capacity as the Princess of Asturias and as the mother of the future queen of Spain. Leonor will be brought up by both Felipe and Letizia and the kind of person Leonor will grow up to be will be dependent on both of her parents. How she handles her public duties might very well be reflected in how Letizia handles herself in the future.
It is already evident in small ways how Amalia will be like in her future role: We see how exuberant (and even over the top sometimes) Maxima is, how she waves with so much energy and always has a smile from ear to ear. In the few press conferences we have seen, it is clear that Amalia will be similar to her mom partly because of her own personality but also because her mom is standing next to her telling her to wave to people.
There is no doubt in my mind that Letizia is capable of handling responsibilities on her own and that she is ready for it at this point in time. Unlike Alexandra, Mary or Maxima, she did not have the disadvantage of not speaking the native language. And certainly if these three women could learn a new language in their adulthood and go out to make speeches and greet and talk with members of Danish and Dutch associations, Letizia can do the same in her native of Spain.
It makes me really wonder what reasons the Spanish court has for holding Letizia back and not allowing her to have her own agenda, whether it is one that they determine for her or one that she helps to determine to incoporate her own interests and areas of expertise.
Do they think she won't do well? If so, then more than two years later of attending engagements with Felipe haven't been helpful to Letizia and the court needs to better prepare her.
Do they think that the media will stop following Felipe and just follow Letizia around? From comments that Letizia has made ("He is the star.") I don't think this will happen. Letizia is conscientious of her role and knows clearly that Felipe will be king one day and that she is the consort. There is no Charles/Diana complex here. And frankly, if Felipe is that worried that his wife will take the spotlight away from him he has greater problems in his future -- his insecurity and inferiority complex.
Do they think that the Spanish people are still having trouble with her past? Yes she's divorced and so are her parents, but really, it has been nearly three years since Letizia has been known as the Prince's fiancee and now his wife and she is the mother of the future queen. I don't see her divorce as being such a big deal now.
The conservativeness of the Spanish court baffles me nearly as much as the IHA in Japan does. If Letizia can't even do solo engagements within Spain, when can we expect her to ever do solo engagements abroad? In 10 years?
To me, of all the current crown princesses, Mette-Marit was the most questionable (as much as I love her). She had a much shadier past than Letizia, she wasn't a university graduate and her career achievement at the time of meeting Haakon was that she was a waitress. She was no where nearly as successful professionally as Letizia was nor was she as experienced in meeting and conversing with politicians or other important individuls. Yet the Norwegian court felt comfortable enough to send Mette-Marit on her own to the U.S. as well as perform many solo engagements within Norway.
As for a social cause about why Letizia may not be as accepted without Felipe, I think Camilla was in a far worst place. She was the pitbull to Diana's angelic presence. She was the woman who made Diana unhappy, who carried on an affair with Diana's husband months after they were married. Even with her divorce, how could Letizia be less reviled than Camilla?
I think Letizia has a lot to offer and can be an even greater Princess of Asturias if only she were permitted. It makes you wonder who is preventing her from being allowed to shine?
Is Letizia having drinks and socializing with her girlfriends when she is not attending one of her husband's solo engagements?
Juan Carlos, like Felipe now, was the heir to the Spanish throne as determined by Franco, and Sofia, despite her royal bith, was his consort, just as Letizia is to Felipe. What is the difference in the two couples that makes comparisons not permissible?
