Who is your favourite member of the Spanish Royal Family?

[lula]

The survey is the most loved and the most antipathetic (not exactly hated), and is made by Internet. It has different categories ... politics, society, gossip and sports.

Vanitatis as always, forgetts something ... Princess Letizia is the only member of the Royal Family that appears also in the list of the most loved.

 

[christythedreamer]

The survey is the most loved and the most antipathetic (not exactly hated), and is made by Internet.

Vanitatis as always, forgetts something ... Princess Letizia is the only member of the Royal Family that appears also in the list of the most loved.

Oh Internet--I won't trust that poll them...

 

[Bine221]

I am surprised too.... I always thought, she has been one of the most popular ones of the RF....
Never trust an Analysis, you haven´t made on your own

Bye Bine

 

[Moonmaiden23]

The survey is the most loved and the most antipathetic (not exactly hated), and is made by Internet.

Vanitatis as always, forgetts something ... Princess Letizia is the only member of the Royal Family that appears also in the list of the most loved.

Then the truth is probably somewhere in between. Opinion is divided on Letizia.

My guess is that the highly thought of member of the SRF is Queen Sofia?

 

[christythedreamer]

Then the truth is probably somewhere in between. Opinion is divided on Letizia.

My guess is that the highly thought of member of the SRF is Queen Sofia?

Yeah... But I also read that Queen Sofia was booed by the public earlier ??

 

[lula]

They are two different things.

One thing is the boos, in certain acts, caused by serious institutional crisis that has Spain and has also affected the monarchy. People protest for many things, and not always against the institution, often take advantage of the presence of members of the Royal Family so that their protests have more echo.

And another thing this survey, which is based in many cases on personal and passional opinions... Princess Letizia unfortunately is very unknown, many people only have the image that it gives a gossip press eager to make money with her. The princess is always news, and if there is no news, they invent or manipulate one (here Vanitatis has hidden her positive result) ... in the end that generates loves or hates.... but never indifference.

For example, the result of Jarvier Barden is not for his acting, but for his attitude to the Spanish press (especially the gossip press) and his political views.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

What are Bardem's political views..extreme left?

Also, the opinions of a publication will influence those of their readers. For example, if Letizia is trashed regularly on the pages of Vanidades, their online and offline polls will reflect the negativity.

That's true of any magazine or paper.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Letizia, superada en popularidad por su cuada Cristina

Letizia became the most unpopular SRF member in a poll conducted by El Mundo Magazine about the most unpopular Spaniards. She ranked in 9th place, her SIL Cristina ranked better (!) and made it to 12th position.

Most hated Spaniard is actor Javier Bardem, followed by Inaki (he doesn't count as SRF member anymore), who came second.

Its rather baffling that Cristina is more popular than Letizia

 

[Emmily]

Its rather baffling that Cristina is more popular than Letizia

Yes, I find that hard to believe!

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

Letizia has polarized and split opinion from day one, whats new. I am only baffled like other posters that she got more votes than Cristina in terms of unpopularity. Letizia is not popular in Spain and has never been, that's a fact. For me, there has always been a major clash with the position and her character, she is suitable to be a lot but not the future Queen of Spain, plus the SRF made a lot of mistakes when dealing with all related issues, IMO.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Letizia is not popular in Spain? I'm sorry but I'm finding this hard to take in,I've always believed she was!

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Letizia has polarized and split opinion from day one, whats new. I am only baffled like other posters that she got more votes than Cristina in terms of unpopularity. Letizia is not popular in Spain and has never been, that's a fact. For me, there has always been a major clash with the position and her character, she is suitable to be a lot but not the future Queen of Spain, plus the SRF made a lot of mistakes when dealing with all related issues, IMO.

I think she is very beautiful(though her weight is alarming). Her supporters like to point to her successful career as a broadcaster, and the fact that she does indeed work hard at her duties as Princess of Asturias, all of which is true.

But I can never get over how uncomfortable and tense she appears at times, as if she was forced to conform to a role she is unsuited for temperamentally. In order to have a life with the man she loved, she made a deal with the devil so to speak. She seems uptight, humorless and rather chilly.. not the kind of woman I'd like to have tea with.

For the sake of the future of the Spanish monarchy I hope I am wrong.

 

[lula]

We really do not know her personality, many people have drawn her image by a gossip press that has made criticizing her a million euro business. And that's not new, each candidate to Princess of Asturias suffered terrible attacks... always looking for the negative, the weak point to attack mercilessly. And that's the first reason why she is a good princess to Spain, she has endured all that pressure.

The Royal House has done a lousy job, they have put her in the background. They wanted to create for her a princess role of 40 years ago, not a princess role of 21st century.

That was not what most Spanish people wanted, and that's what the Royal House does not understand. Doing that only succeeded in creating a frivolous image, that only serves to make the gossip press make money. If they had allowed the princess to have a voice, be active, she has much ability to do things well and be well respected.

If anything recent events have shown, is that there were things that did not work well, and that the institution needed changes. And probably the Princess is more aware of that than other members of the Family.

Queen Sofia is hardly known outside her official role, makes little social life in Spain and has few friends. That keeps her from having many problems, but also alienates her from the reality of the country.

Urdangarín adapted to everything, good and bad, did not question the power, relationships or friendships, which gave him his position ... and that was his undoing.

The princess has adapted into many things, but also wanted to preserve a part of herself... probably is a more complicated way, but in the end is the most logical and allows a balanced lifestyle. Living enclosed palace is not an option, be adore by all with different intentions only for be a princess, either.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

My opinion of Letizia is not based on any gossip press. I don't read, speak or understand Spanish. And there is very little information about her here in the U.S.

My impression of her is based on her demeanor in photographs and on the video of her that I have seen. She is beautiful. She often appears tense and ill at ease. She appears to love her husband and her children but not her position as a member of the SRF.

 

[lula]

Moon, she is a person with strong features and serious expression, and that probably gives a more distant image. It is something that even Prince himself has commented. Some people have very sweet factions, and the personality is very different.

She is more herself is her acts alone, always more relax. In the acts with the Prince and the Royal Family, is sometimes more tense, probably because for years has been hard pressed by the press and the Royal House to not steal the attention of the king or prince. Any day some will require her to walk a step behind as in Japon.

 

[ANNIE_S]

Any day some will require her to walk a step behind as in Japon.

Any day she will end like the princess of Japon, I´m telling you now.
And nobody will apologize, for sure.

I went to Cotilleando (you now, aka wehateletizia.com) and they are having a great joint orgasmus with this news. Probably some posters here are as well.

Please, we can´t have this discussions any time someone feels the neccessity of proving his/her hate for Letizia is justified and she´s an evil woman who nobody loves. It´s getting annoying.

I don´t think anybody is going to change his mind about Leti because an internet poll. Why do we have to see this discussion over and over?

 

[chuchu]

If my country had monarchy and I could choose a princess, I would select Letizia with no second thoughts.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Perhaps Letizia got off to a shaky start with the Spanish public due to the way she was presented, which was not really her fault. Felipe seemed to try to sneak her in, as if there was something to hide. Out of nowhere she was presented as his fiancée and the future queen of Spain and when the press and public learned that she was also a divorcee, etc. it seemed to open a Pandora's box of suspicion and resentment that continues to this day.

When Haakon of Norway fell in love with a controversial girlfriend he was open about it. Granted that Norwegian and Spanish culture and society are vastly different, but I suspect that Felipe did himself and Letizia no favors by keeping his relationship with her secret for so long.

 

[amaryllus]

ain't no thing. she will be a queen and mother of a queen one day.

 

[christythedreamer]

SRF really needs to hire some better PR agents... they really need some PR magic to improve things

 

[Moonmaiden23]

ain't no thing. she will be a queen and mother of a queen one day.

The SRF can only hope and pray devoutly. It ain't looking too good for any of them right now.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

We really do not know her personality,

We saw her true personality only twice, at Zarzuela II when she couldn't wait to bring her message across on the evening of the engagement and two days later at the engagement presentation, where she came across as bossy & in charge, normal features for the successful careerwoman that she was but not what the SRF had in mind for her.

The Royal House has done a lousy job, they have put her in the background. They wanted to create for her a princess role of 40 years ago, not a princess role of 21st century.

That was not what most Spanish people wanted, and that's what the Royal House does not understand. Doing that only succeeded in creating a frivolous image, that only serves to make the gossip press make money. If they had allowed the princess to have a voice, be active, she has much ability to do things well and be well respected.

Agree 100% - and the latter is exactly the role that would have suited her personality and would have made her a success in a modern monarchy, but not in the SRF.

In different circumstances F&L would have had good chances to become the golden couple of Spain, a position that according to the poll is occupied these days by Iker & Sara

 

[madrid]

We really do not know her personality

Letizia's personality is choleric.

 

[lula]

Duke, more that in Spain, I would say in the Spanish Royal House has set king Juan Carlos... in that model outdated in different ways, which is supported by people of his generation or with a certain way of seeing things. People who do not want to change things, because that would mean losing their power and influence. But right now that way of doing things is exhausted, society is changing and new generations want other things.

While we were happy and we lived rich was easy to entertain people, and Princess Letizia was a useful and inexpensive way to do it... "Bread and circuses"... And while some keep trying, now it is not as easy to use the princess to distract people from scandals involving the country's institutions.

 

[leidi]

The truth is we as Spaniards no longer care for the royal family, if people want mindless entertainment, they watch horrible tv shows like salvame or gran hermano.

Letizia is seen as a dominant woman who wants to do things her own way, if you want to do that as a career woman: fine, do it but if you agree to go into a royal family you have to play by its rules, one thing is to try to set things in motion and change slowly and another to come with a l'oreal attitude and pretend everything has to be done your way for it to be ok.

No one really respect the spanish royals these days: a cheating king with dubious business connections (the Borbon family came to power with their hands empty and now they have lots of money), a "professional" queen who has had to deal with everything her husband has done, a weak crown prince who chose the wrong woman to be princess (I'm not saying Letizia is a bad person, I don't know her but her public persona is not what a princess should be and I've heard a lot of people talking about that), a crown princess that is not fit to fill the shoes of her predecessor, a infanta that cares more about horses and men than the crown, the other involved in fiscal scandals...

That is what people say day after day, it's not just the economic crisis, it is that since Felipe married Letizia all bets were off and people were finally able to say what they wanted, she (and by extension the other two consorts: Jaime and Iñaki) became the scapegoats for people's frustration on the state of the monarchy.

I feel gratitude towards King Juan Carlos, after all he led us to democracy (and I'm old enough to remember Franco's time) but he should never abdicate, it will mean the end of the monarchy and probably of Spain as a whole.

To say that the Spanish Royal Family is liked in their own country is stretching the truth greatly, the saddest thing is that they might actually be the least of our problems.

 

[lula]

And how it's supposed to be a princess in Spain? Maybe you can explain it, because honestly I do not understand it.

Unfortunately, many Spanish only have been led for years by press reports of gossip that filled hours of television ... easy entertainment, which leads people not to think and not search for information. And so we are now ... trying to react and value what is really important.

The reality is that the press would have done the same with any woman who would have been Princess of Asturias... this country did it with Queen Sofia 40 years ago (and therefore now she lives in isolation), and did so with any woman that was related with the Prince... Spain is a terrible mother in law, and there will always be people looking for a justification to criticize something. It is a position where you can never win.

If Princess Letizia acts as Queen Sofia, is criticized ... if she acts in a different way, is criticized too. It is so absurd that when Letizia does something that Sofia has done for years, often she is criticize more than when she does things her way.

But in the end, in this country, who resist ... wins. And by the time the princess resists.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

But in the end, in this country, who resist ... wins. And by the time the princess resists.

But at what cost. Sofia paid a heavy price but she came from circles where it was normal to be born & raised to pay it. I am not so sure about Letizia. Very soon it will not be only about her, as soon as her daughters are old enough or too old to be hidden within Zarzuela walls the press will go after them.

leidi Letizia is seen as a dominant woman who wants to do things her own way, if you want to do that as a career woman: fine, do it but if you agree to go into a royal family you have to play by its rules, one thing is to try to set things in motion and change slowly and another to come with a l'oreal attitude and pretend everything has to be done your way for it to be ok.

I've said it before, Letizia's personality and the life she led before the prince (and that of most modern educated women) don't go with the requested slow change, and the l'oreal attitude as you call it or the 'let me finish' snappy attitude doesnt work is an outdated SRF.

I don't think Letizia was prepared for her role at all in that respect, Felipe should have known better but maybe he didnt see it coming, like many things both of them didnt see coming, they let her walk straight into desaster around the engagement and then put her in place, big time. I am sure casareal thought at the time, this is what she wanted, she made her bed and now we make her lie in it. This is to add when saying that the SRF did a lousy job when handling the Letizia issue, is includes her husband, Felipe. It speaks volumes about his standing or influence within casareal that not once in over 9 years he was able to publicly stand up for his wife or even more put his foot down at home.

 

[lula]

Duke, power in the Royal Family has always been of the King and things have always been like he ordered. I think in some ways, King Juan Carlos has always seen his son as a threat... and therefore always wanted to have him very controlled. I think the Prince knows what battles can be won, and which will have to wait.

The king has just given some power to his son when his health has deteriorated. But still, he preferred cancel or delay travels, rather than delegate them to the Prince.

The princess also will always be conditioned by the role of the queen or the infantas. We discussed last month, the Queen and Infanta Elena tried to recover in a month what they had not worked throughout the year. The queen is almost on vacation this month, with one event per week.

 

[christythedreamer]

I just don't get this all Letizia hate. They scream nonsense to me (I respect reasonable arguments though)

1. Her alleged abortion before Prince Felipe & her first marriage-- that's her private life before royal marriage, leave her alone.

2. She's controlling--maybe she is a little more "independent" as usual but since she has married into the family, she usually is able to stand behind her husband.

She works hard, at least that's what I can see from the frequency of her engagements. She spends reasonably I think, her clothes are usually from Spanish brands and not big brands like Chanel, McQueen blah blah--stuff from Hugo Boss or Felipe Varela or Zara are pretty middle-class, judging by the price.

I don't know why would people hate a hard-working princess. She seems very patriotic too/-we can see that when she's at matches (football and Olympic Games)

 

[leidi]

Honestly I don't hate Letizia, I don't think she's a bad person, I'm merely writing about people's perception of her in the streets, I've been in several spanish cities in the last years and I haven't heard people speaking highly of her anywhere.

It's not a case of the press hating and the people loving her, it's a case of people in general not caring about her at all.

And frankly is also a case of snobbism, people wouldn't bash her as much if she was noble or foreign, because that's how we are.

Lula: you asked about the role of a princess? it's awful to compare but to make my point across look at Máxima: she's an independent woman, no one would say that she is submissive to WA but yet she managed to carve a role for herself in the royal family without disrupting the balance.

That's something people feel Letizia hasn't been able to do, it's a matter of give and take, in my opinion what she has failed to see is that she's no longer just Letizia Ortiz but the future Queen of the country.

What Letizia did before becoming a princess is something I don't care about, she was a free woman back then and had the right to do whatever she wanted with her life and she shouldn't be bashed for it.

I have no doubts about Letizia's love for Felipe, her children and the country but I am not sure if the approach she's giving her role is the adequate one to assure the future of the monarchy.