Princess Letizia's 40th Birthday: September 15, 2012

[kathia_sophia]

The pictures are being received very badly in Spain.

ohh gosh, really??? thats sad...the pictures have no evil in them or bad intentions behind, and yet they get the same treatment the King (bostwana incident) and Inaki had or are having.
what this world has come...;_;

That home, that garden, those outfits and that expensive photographer have all been payed with the spaniard's taxes.

ok, you are probably correct, but thats life, you have a royal family in your country and somewhat they have to make a living. all instituitions in the world arent perfect, believe me, having a republic is not way better and they have been taking my country to the end of road but we have to live on...
(sometimes i wish we, portuguese, had a Constituicional Monarchy. but we dont, so to bad, gotta move on..thats life)

 

[madrid]

It wasn't too good idea to release these pictures especially where the Asturias family lie on the sofa in their garden. CNN and BBC has just showed hundreds of thousands protesters in Spain today because of serious economic crisis and growing unemployment.

 

[LadyFinn]

I see nothing luxurious, provocative or extravagant in these very lovely photos of a happy family. There are no expensive evening gowns, no tiaras, no big jewelry. Just a happy princess with her husband and daughters.

Doña Letizia cumple 40 años y protagoniza un posado excepcional junto a don Felipe y las Infantas Leonor y Sofía | Galería 14 de 16 | Mujerhoy.com

Princess Letizia releases special edition photos to mark her fourtieth birthday - hellomagazine.com

 

[soapstar]

Third, it's not my opinion. I live in Madrid. Turn on the radio, or check the newspapers who didn't already blocked the readers comments. Nearly everybody is indignant. And if nearly everybody in Spain is indignant, then it is obvious that it was a bad PR move.

Wow. I didn't realize that so many were upset about the photos. I don't think the pictures are bad...they're actually very sweet, but I can see how people in Spain would have a different perspective.

 

[chuchu]

It wasn't too good idea to release these pictures especially where the Asturias family lie on the sofa in their garden. CNN and BBC has just showed hundreds of thousands protesters in Spain today because of serious economic crisis and growing unemployment.

It is too bad the pictures being taken badly by Spaniards. If one does not know that they are royalty, one sees a good looking middle class family in their living room with middle class furnishings. Nothing extravagant or luxurious.

 

[Livia]

WOW, what a huge PR faux pas! Who did advice them? I don't care if the pics are pretty or not, they look like a photo spread from Hola magazine!!

Seriously, what were they thinking? Laying on a couch on a luxurious surrounding? Letizia all airbrushed and posing with the attitude of a model or a hollywood star?
Is that really the image they want to give under the hard financial situations the country is going on? With the Palma affair going on at court and grandpa chasing elephants?
With so many people in spain contesting the role of the royal family do they really think ii is a good idea to appear as iddle and glamourouspeople in the press?
This family need serious help from a PR professional!

I also thought the same. They pose like celebrities in a woman magazine.

These pics are really nice and appropiate, in fact they are a wise choice, I don't want imagine the negative opinion of the people in Spain if Letizia was dressed with Tiara and evening dress. They are the pics of a family, two parents and their lovely girls. The couch maybe is only for the photoshoot, atrezzo.

Spanish Royals are needed of things like these, the King and Infanta Cristina + Iñaki Urdangarín right now are a burden.

 

[garcía]

The pictures are lovely and the princely couple is highly fulfilling our expectations!! Unfortunately some people in this forum are trying to confuse terms.It is true that people in Spain are worried about the crisis but today´s demonstrations in Madrid had nothing to do with the SRF.
Happy birthday Princess Letizia, you have a beautiful family and you are doing a really great job!!!

 

[anele14]

very nice her family...

 

[NGalitzine]

I guess no matter what they do the Bourbons of Spain just can't win these days. Appear in public and you are being frivolous and not working hard enough. Stay home and you are afraid to appear in public. Buy your clothes from regular high street stores and you are not being regal enough. dare to buy a designer outfit and you are spending too much money. Have family photos done to mark your wifes 40th birthday and you are showing off your wealth and not being respectful of the poor and the downtrodden, don't have photos and you deny people the right to see their royal family. A Conservative government brings in austerity measures lets take to the streets and protest and throw them out of office. A socialist government brings in austerity measures lets take to the streets and protest them too. People just don't seem to know what they want, other than they want to be able to complain about everything and everybody.

 

[lula]

The photos are criticized by those who always criticize everything. Now use the economic crisis to criticize everything is very absurd, but they have to criticize and seek any argument.

It is the 40th birthday of the Princess of Asturias and all the celebration has been these photos... neither big parties, no concerts, no royal guests, no official gifts...

The photos have been well received by the press, who has been waiting and asking eight years for some pictures as these. The Royal House is working to make changes and updated and that is being recognized.

Surely the magazines will sell millions of copies with these photos. Probably it will be much better for the Spanish economy than doing nothing. The magazines are usually published on Wednesday ... and all will advance to Monday the publication.

Cover of Hola

http://www.hola.com/imagenes/realez...rio-letizia/0-215-70/portada-hola-leti--a.jpg

 

[An Ard Ri]

Can we keep this discussion civilised please as this is a polite forum,thank you!

 

[An Ard Ri]

Wow. I didn't realize that so many were upset about the photos. I don't think the pictures are bad...they're actually very sweet, but I can see how people in Spain would have a different perspective.

I haven't seen any evidence of this,but if anyone has please feel free to post a link!

 

[Sonjapearl]

The photos are lovely. But I don't understand why Sofia is sleeping in two of them. Its like they thought, "OK, Leonor is heir to the heir, so Sofia, why won't you nap while your sister is the main focus at the moment?"

 

[ANNIE_S]

The photoshoot is indeed very nice. I didn´t expect anything like this from them. It looks, like someone said before, very Dutch/Danish RF.
I´ve been reading the Spanish Press today, and the ones that like it are the ones that always like the RF, and the ones that are complaining are those that would complain in any case, as simple as that. I don´t see a big deal

 

[kathia_sophia]

someday they will give us a Tiara/evening dress for official pictures.
it will cause caos, but she is a Princess, and she will eventually have one of those.
she's not a regular person, people need to get over it and accept the role shes got. The Spanish royal family have been very careful and conservative in this kind of things, so this pictures are the begining of the new path the royal family is crossing and for me its a very positive one.

 

[Winnie]

I guess no matter what they do the Bourbons of Spain just can't win these days. Appear in public and you are being frivolous and not working hard enough. Stay home and you are afraid to appear in public. Buy your clothes from regular high street stores and you are not being regal enough. dare to buy a designer outfit and you are spending too much money. Have family photos done to mark your wifes 40th birthday and you are showing off your wealth and not being respectful of the poor and the downtrodden, don't have photos and you deny people the right to see their royal family. A Conservative government brings in austerity measures lets take to the streets and protest and throw them out of office. A socialist government brings in austerity measures lets take to the streets and protest them too. People just don't seem to know what they want, other than they want to be able to complain about everything and everybody.

Brilliant post. Well thought-out.

 

[donnaK]

The only luxurious part of this photo session was that the SRF hired a well accomplished photographer, but she is a Spanish woman, well done for the SRF. According to the press, Letizia didn't even hire a hair stylist, most of her clothes were recycled, no big jewels, I'd have loved to see an evening gown with a tiara, I guess the SRF had been extremely careful not to show off the wealth and status too much, mainly an image of a warm and loving family, most of the pictures are quite casual compared to the photos of other RFs.
From what I read, the Spanish press like it in general, of course there were people complaining, they would complain no matter what Asturias did anyway. If there were no photo session, they would complain why the Asturias didn't do like the other RFs, finally there are photos, they complained why the Asturias did like the other RFs LOL .

 

[christythedreamer]

i really love the photos. really good family and i love their house

 

[donnaK]

The photos are lovely. But I don't understand why Sofia is sleeping in two of them. Its like they thought, "OK, Leonor is heir to the heir, so Sofia, why won't you nap while your sister is the main focus at the moment?"

They had the photographer for a day, lasted several hours. Sofia probably was tired, fell asleep, she is still relatively small at the age of 5.

 

[LadyFinn]

But that's just it, that Sofia is sleeping makes the photos warm and natural. They look like photos of a family spending time together, not just posing for photos.

 

[carlota]

i personally don't feel offended by the pictures, but i can see how some spanish people may feel this is over the top. the lavish surroundings of their garden can be some sort of a provocation to some, who have lost their houses or are resigned to extremely tiny flats that the previous government approved not long ago.

i like the pictures a lot and i'm personally glad they released them. they are different to their usual official pictures. but maybe it wasn't the best idea to do a very hollywoodesque photoshoot seeing the spanish situation.

 

[Cici]

I love the photos, they look natural and warm. The photos with Sofia sleeping a precious as are the one where Letizia is reading to her daughters.

 

[kathia_sophia]

anyone knows if the pictures made the covers or inside pictures of the other countries with royal families? like if it made to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands...

 

[LadyFinn]

Cover of Hoy Corazon
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/A2ySVfHCcAAaJoE.jpg:large

 

[EIIR]

When I first looked at these photos I was disappointed to see another royal family go in for this kind of soft-focus, photoshopped, Hello!-style photo session of the kind that the Danish in particular seem to prefer.

My next thought was that lounging on an expensive looking outdoor sofa in the beautifully manicured garden of your very high-spec modern home while your country's in economic meltdown was probably not the best idea.

Sometimes restraint is the best option. The Spanish people know they're royals, that they're wealthy and that they can't understand the difficulties that so many Spaniards are going through. It's a difficult tightrope to walk, but the royals need to do all they can not to exacerbate that right now. A couple of pictures of Letizia with some trees vaguely in the background would've been a much better idea.

 

[ricarda]

Be more specific when mentioning "Scandinavian royal families". I do not remember the Swedish royal family doing a photo spread like this.

????????
What with all the "happy little family" pictures of Victoria, Daniel and Estelle? Or - in the past - of Carl Gustav, Silvia and kids?
Actually all royal families (except perhaps the Spanish RF) do photo shootings like this - some just do it better than others.

I have mixed feelings about the pictures. I think it was great they released pics on this occasion. And I don't see how anyone could be offended by them (I mean the Spanish monarchy must be really in big trouble if the royal family is not even allowed to show a beautiful couch in a beautiful garden.)

But I would have preferred more personal pictures which tell us something about Letizia, other than that she is the beauty-operated devoted wife of Felipe and mother of two lovely daughters. Especially her solo pics are really strange with those model poses and her mask-like face.
There is an air of "un-realness", of "putting up a perfect facade" about them.

On the other hand the pics with the children are lovely.

 

[LadyFinn]

But I would have preferred more personal pictures which tell us something about Letizia, other than that she is the beauty-operated devoted wife of Felipe and mother of two lovely daughters.

Maybe that is exactly what Letizia wants to show to the world of herself. She is the wife of an heir, whose task is to support her husband. And she is a loving mother, and a beautiful woman. Maybe she doesn't want to open herself and her life more to outsiders. It is quite understandable that she is protecting her privacy.

Nowadays people want to see photos of their royal families. At least in Sweden people are hoping to see new photos of Estelle, Victoria and Daniel all the time.

 

[ricarda]

LadyFinn
Maybe that is exactly what Letizia wants to show to the world of herself. She is the wife of an heir, whose task is to support her husband. And she is a loving mother, and a beautiful woman. Maybe she doesn't want to open herself and her life more to outsiders. It is quite understandable that she is protecting her privacy.

But those pictures actually invite us into their privacy.
If the aim was to protect her privacy then 3 pictures would indeed have been enough.

 

[lula]

Yes, as Spain is in crisis, they should have done some photos dressed as homeless and in a street between garbage ...

They are family photos in a garden, the princess doesn´t wear jewelry and all clothing is repeated ... how can it be more simple!!! Most princesses pose dressed in haute couture, full of historical jewels and in opulent palaces.

This is a photo session for the 40th birthday of the Princess of Asturias, the only thing they have done to celebrate a birthday so significant. 16 photos to celebrate the birthday of a princess is the minimum ... there have not been multiple interviews, or concerts, parties or institutional gifts. And frankly, pretty sad and pathetic as was the no celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the King and Queen... people and press need this.

The Prince and Princess of Asturias have not given an interview or a photo shoot for a magazine in eight years. This is the first time we can see images of this type. A serious and professional princess we have every day of the year, with a full agenda performed with professionalism... we have photos like these once in 10 years.

These pictures are a gift to the press, they will win a lot of money with them ... and a good campaign for Spain's image abroad.

 

[kathia_sophia]

^very well said.
c'mon Letizia is one of the hardest working Princess, lets give her a bit of rest
and always bringing the 'crisis' is a bit low, seems people doesnt have more arguments when they see something they dont like.
my country is in a more 'crisis' situation than Spain, and i know lots of people who are rich or live confortable, but i dont go and say to them that they need to refrain a bit because of the economic crisis.
sorry but some here sound like if the pictures ruined more the crisis, actually it was the opposite, magazines will sell millions and make profit. those people in money need should be grateful if they did photosessions like this all the time.