SPAIN King Juan Carlos made a public apology about his elephant safari in Botswana. As he came out of hospital yesterday, where he underwent surgery for a broken hip injury sustained on the shoot, he said, "I am very sorry. I made a mistake. It won't happen again." Such an apology is rare if not unique among Spanish monarchs, and even among European royalty. The Spanish media says that the event was fostered by the heir to the throne, Prince Felipe, who was crucial in handling the public relations gaffe that was the result of the private trip for which the King is supposedly to have paid around the €8,000 mark at a time where unemployment in the country is well over 20%. However, the world's media is paying much attention to this country when we could well do without it. Headlines bark about the monarch, his grandson and son-in-law (you can tell the political stance of almost all of them and grade them on their republican inclinations) but the financial pages look deeply into the crisis, worrying about the need, or otherwise, of a bailout. (More on new measures coming up.)
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