Royal speed dating

The king of Spain is about to undergo an operation to replace the hip replacement that replaced his real hip last year.  The new, not real royal hip became infected so he needs to replace the replacement.  And after all the talk about abdications, regencies, trips to America for hospital treatment and everything else besides that got everyone talking last week, things have settled down to pretty much back to normal for the Spanish royals.  Apart from one thing.  The king has been speed dating.

 

Juan Carlos of Spain has been busying through his to do list before going into hospital

 

Juan Carlos I, as head of state, is responsible for greeting the new ambassadors coming to his country and receiving their credentials.  The new representatives hand over a letter from the head of state of their own nation which accredits them as ambassador and then they can get on with their job.  It might fall into the 'just a formality' category but it's a pretty important moment and the Spanish king, looking over what needed to be done before he went into hospital, found he had sixteen of them lined up for their official welcome.  Which is where the speed dating comes in.  Normally, the ambassadors are received individually.  But because of the sudden change in the king's agenda, all sixteen turned up at once for a super speedy greeting session.  They may not have been sat at separate tables waiting for their three minutes but they got a whirlwind introduction to their new posting.

 

 

 

The ambassador of Panama presents his credentials to the King of Spain in 2012

 

It's usually a fairly flashy event with uniforms and pomp and circumstance.  But because of the number of ambassadors and the tight deadline for getting things done on this occasion, it was all a bit more informal.  It's led to some more questions about why the king isn't appointing a regent while he is receiving medical treatment and recovering from the operation - it would have allowed the presentation of credentials to unfold along more regular lines.  But others point out that much of the king's work as head of state isn't physical and that although his recovery period may stretch across months, he will be able to do most of the things he does at the moment, just sitting down most of the time.  Regardless of that debate, it does leave those sixteen ambassadors with the strange claim to fame of taking part in one of the quickest royal ceremonies of recent times.