Infanta Cristina and Family Move to Washington, DC: Autumn 2009


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Status
Not open for further replies.
it doesn't really come as a surprise, both infantas have had decreasing acts in the past months, with the asturias couple taking more and more center stage (rightly so). i am sure they will be delighted to go, inaki can follow a proper career and escape his "mr cristina de borbon" position and the family will more or less be able to live very private and "normal" out of the public eye, leaving the polemic behind for others to deal with it.

Los Duques de Palma se mudan con su familia a Washington - 20minutos.es

the article gives some infos:

- inaki's job with telefonica international is the reason why they move, probably at the end of the summer, with the permission of the king, of course.
- the stay is supposed to be for 2 years but may be extended.
- they are likely to live in georgetown (felipe went to georgetown university), one of the most exclusive areas, and the urdangarin kids might go to the same school like the obama kids
- cristina's acts in spain will be delegated (although she will attend important constitutional acts) but will continue to work for the crown in the US, as kind of a promoter for the spanish issue, same direction as F&L trip a few weeks ago.
- yet to be decided what will happen to cristina's job at caixa.
 
I am sure they will be very well in Washington, also because they will be away from paparazzi for a while, hopefully.

the article gives some infos:

- they are likely to live in georgetown (felipe went to georgetown university), one of the most exclusive areas, and the urdangarin kids might go to the same school like the obama kids
Don't Cristina's children attend a French school now? If so they probably will attend a French school also in Washington.
 
Good luck to Cristina, Inaki and children with the move. I hope we still get to see occasional photos of her and her family.
 
Good luck to Cristina, Inaki and children with the move. I hope we still get to see occasional photos of her and her family.
I hope that too. It´s sad to think that we won´t see them in Spain, I love those children...:sad:
Anyway, I wish them luck and happiness in Washington.:flowers:
And, please, come home at least on holiday!!
 
I hope that the family will enjoy living abroad though, I'm sure that their grandparents will miss them.
 
I am sure they will be very well in Washington, also because they will be away from paparazzi for a while, hopefully.


Don't Cristina's children attend a French school now? If so they probably will attend a French school also in Washington.


I would think so too. Unless they are also fluent in English, I wouldn't expect them to go to the Sidwell School that the Obama girls attend. My guess would be that the children would either attend one of the French immersion schools in the area or a Spanish immersion school.
 
I live in Washington, D.C., and I doubt that they're going to move to Georgetown or send their children to the same school where the Obama girls go.

Georgetown is not a particularly attractive place for families with a lot of kids -- and it's not "exclusive" really. (Expensive, yes, but not "exclusive.") I'd imagine that they'd be more likely to move to McLean, Virginia, or Potomac, Maryland, where they'd have more room and more privacy/security.

The school where the Obama girls go is a Quaker school, which probably wouldn't appeal to this Catholic family. (Most of the Spanish and Latin American diplomats here don't send their kids to Sidwell, they go with the Catholic private schools.)

There are several Catholic and Episcopal schools in the area that are more exclusive and rate better than Sidwell Friends. Or maybe they'll try the non-religious Landon School for the boys (King Harald went there as a child).
 
I think that the children will attend a Catholic School and it will be interesting to see where they will actually reside.
 
i think it will be a great move to show their kids around and let them experience other lifestyle. besides, they will probably be much looking forward to some privacy.

i had a feeling they would choose the obama girls' school, although quaker religion is not popular in spain at all (although i have no idea if it interferes with catholicism). maybe they will choose a normal international school instead.

i thought georgetown was a nice choice, it's quite a quiet and nice area to live in, although perhaps a bit too young for them with so many students around?
 
i think it will be a great move to show their kids around and let them experience other lifestyle. besides, they will probably be much looking forward to some privacy.

i had a feeling they would choose the obama girls' school, although quaker religion is not popular in spain at all (although i have no idea if it interferes with catholicism). maybe they will choose a normal international school instead.

i thought georgetown was a nice choice, it's quite a quiet and nice area to live in, although perhaps a bit too young for them with so many students around?

I wouldn't call Georgetown a quiet area at all. It's a mix of students, shops, apartments, small (extremely expensive) houses, and large (astronomically expensive) houses. They'd have to have a huge house -- think $10 million and up -- to get something big enough for all their kids and have a little privacy.

There are other parts of Washington that are more exclusive and have bigger homes/more land, so those certainly would be a possibility.

Although a few of the single royals live in the city, others live in the suburbs. For instance, Reza Pahlavi and his family were in McLean, Virginia, for years. Farah Diba lived in Potomac, Maryland. King Hussein and Queen Noor had a house in Potomac, too, although I think she sold it a few years ago. CP Alexander of Yugo lived further out in Fairfax for a while, I think.

On schools, Washington International School might be a possibility for the kids, and it is near Georgetown, so maybe the rumors are right. Lycee Francais is in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which is a suburb just outside the city.

I seriously doubt, though, that they'd send their kids to Sidwell Friends, the school where the Obama girls (and Chelsea Clinton before them) went. First of all, it's extremely liberal, not just politically, but in the approach toward education/life. (Queen Sofia would have been expelled for politically incorrectness on her comments about "gay pride" a few months ago!)

Second, the lower school is in Bethesda, Maryland, not in Washington. Kids switch to the Washington campus in 6th or 7th grade, so they'd end up with the kids on different campuses anyway.

But, you never know. They'll probably ask their friends who live here what they think and where they send their kids to school, just like anyone else would.
 
My son is in the Air Force and stationed in Washington DC, I hope that family has enough money to live somewhere like Alexandria or somewhere way outside DC. I was just there this weekend and it really isn't a very nice place. Once you get outside of the tourist attractions, it is very danderous and very ghetto. I personally would not want to live anywhere near there. We left my sons base at 9:40am and it took us an hour to get 1/4 mile around the beltway, which was only 18 miles. The traffic is the absolute worst. If you happen to hit at rush hour, you can add 2-3 hours to your trip. My son lives 22 miles from base and it takes him 1 1/2 hours to drive to work.I really wish them luck.
 
My son is in the Air Force and stationed in Washington DC, I hope that family has enough money to live somewhere like Alexandria or somewhere way outside DC. I was just there this weekend and it really isn't a very nice place. Once you get outside of the tourist attractions, it is very danderous and very ghetto. I personally would not want to live anywhere near there. We left my sons base at 9:40am and it took us an hour to get 1/4 mile around the beltway, which was only 18 miles. The traffic is the absolute worst. If you happen to hit at rush hour, you can add 2-3 hours to your trip. My son lives 22 miles from base and it takes him 1 1/2 hours to drive to work.I really wish them luck.

I am also from the DC area, and I am not sure that I agree with your characterizaiton of "ghetto". Yes, there are certainly bad and dangerous parts of the city...but I think you will find that in any major city in any part of the world. Crime happens in nice neighborhoods too!

And yes, the traffic is horrendous. There is no other way to put it. If we had put a little more money into a public transit system when it was fairly cheap, it wouldn't cost so much now. Plus, more and more people are moving "away" from teh city...and the urban planners didn't plan on that. Why on earth is Route 66 only two lanes:ohmy:

If the family chooses, as previously discussed they can live in Georgetown..its a fairly nice place but its not quiet or cheap at all. Or they can live near American University, which is where a lot of the Embassies are...a lot of the diplomats live there as well. I think one of the neighborhood is called Spring Valley...its just as expensive but you can definitely have some yard space for the kids. As previously mentioned, they can also live in Fairfax County (its right off 66) and this is where McLean is located or Montgomery County (Potomac) but too me that is not convenient for getting into the city. Bethesda would work just as well. But the food, shopping and cultural attractions are great in any of these locations.
 
Last edited:
My son is in the Air Force and stationed in Washington DC, I hope that family has enough money to live somewhere like Alexandria or somewhere way outside DC. I was just there this weekend and it really isn't a very nice place. Once you get outside of the tourist attractions, it is very danderous and very ghetto. I personally would not want to live anywhere near there. We left my sons base at 9:40am and it took us an hour to get 1/4 mile around the beltway, which was only 18 miles. The traffic is the absolute worst. If you happen to hit at rush hour, you can add 2-3 hours to your trip. My son lives 22 miles from base and it takes him 1 1/2 hours to drive to work.I really wish them luck.

Your son must have wanted to discourage you from visiting again, because whatever you saw isn't at all characteristic of Washington! Is he by any chance at Andrews AFB? That is in a bad part of town, adjacent to several ghettos.

But, if he'd taken you to anything on the west side of the city, such as Georgetown, Spring Valley, AU Park, Wesley Heights, Tenleytown, Friendship Heights, and other places, you'd have seen some of the most beautiful in-town residences in the world. Most of Washington is quite safe and has a low crime rate -- much of the crime is limited to the bad neighborhoods. (BTW, Alexandria has beautiful homes, but it, too, has some horrible neighborhoods.)

The traffic is quite bad, but it would be much better if we didn't have tourists jamming our roadways. ;-)

I'm sure Princess Christina and her family have nothing to worry about.
 
I've stayed in Chevy Chase before, and LOVED IT. I want to live their someday myself (maybe in my dreams....) but I love Washington as a whole as well.
 
Yes Chevy Chase is quite nice. Lots of shopping (high end), great great food and the homes are EXPENSIVE!
 
Yes Chevy Chase is quite nice. Lots of shopping (high end), great great food and the homes are EXPENSIVE!

I live in Chevy Chase. Yes to all of the above...
 
I would think that the Princess would want to live near the Spanish Embassy for security reasons. Will she have a bodyguard with her when she moves around in the US?
 
I hope that they really enjoy their stay in the US, as I am sure they will.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was not trying to offend anyone regarding Washington DC, I just personally just don't like it. It is too dirty, too crowded and too noisy. I am from a small town in Ohio and have no desire to ever live in a big city, regardless of where it is. I currently live in an area where we don't even lock our doors when we leave during the day. I guess I am mostly just intimidated by all the people and all the news story I heard when I am visiting. IMHO, I would live in a small town any day.:whistling:
 
And you are certainly entitled to your opinion. I actually live in the suburbs of Maryland....and what I like about this area is that I can experience the big city of DC (though I am originaly from NYC and this isn't that big too me) and some of the amentities of living in a suburb (yard, driveways, kids playing in the streets, etc.) We lock our doors at night but we are pretty nice and average people.

I think Cristina and her family will be extremely happy here and we can't wait to have them!
 
I also have been throughout Maryland, we went to Mt Vernon this last weekend, and I love it, it is just the area around base and downtown that I wasn't too fond of. Northern Maryland is also very beautiful!!
I was just shocked at how much it cost to live in the area and wondered how people could afford it, of course, I don't believe that will be a problem for Cristina and family. I hope they enjoy visiting all the historial site around the area, because I have to say, there certainly a lot of things to see and do. I guess I am just not a people person.:ROFLMAO:
 
Does anyone know how they're going to work things with regard to the their official SRF agenda? How was it done when Elena lived in NYC?
 
My son is in the Air Force and stationed in Washington DC, I hope that family has enough money to live somewhere like Alexandria or somewhere way outside DC. I was just there this weekend and it really isn't a very nice place. Once you get outside of the tourist attractions, it is very danderous and very ghetto. I personally would not want to live anywhere near there. We left my sons base at 9:40am and it took us an hour to get 1/4 mile around the beltway, which was only 18 miles. The traffic is the absolute worst. If you happen to hit at rush hour, you can add 2-3 hours to your trip. My son lives 22 miles from base and it takes him 1 1/2 hours to drive to work.I really wish them luck.

I live in the Washington, DC area. I have been to many cosmopolitan capitals in the world and I believe Washington, DC is one of the prettiest. Not at all as you described. In fact they are gentrifying many of the once undesirable neighborhoods. It is difficult to find an inexpensive place to live in Washington, DC any more.

I think Cristina and family will enjoy the place, the people, the culture and the restaurant!

Yes, traffic is bad but not any worse than LA or Paris.
 
I am also curious about security. I assume that they are guarded in Spain. I assume the Secret Service will provide guards for them here. Am I wrong?
 
Does anyone know how they're going to work things with regard to the their official SRF agenda? How was it done when Elena lived in NYC?

I can only guess that it will take a while for her to get settled and for the entire family to get adjusted to a routine. Maybe her duties will be divided between her sister and brother and sister-in-law. I suppose that it is possible for her to travel for important events.

I have no idea how things were handled while Elena was in New York.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom