King and Queen attacked by mob

9 December 2004

MONDRAGON-Protestors threw stones outside a courthouse in this Basque town as around 1,000 people demonstrated against a visit to the northern region by Spanish King Juan Carlos, journalists at the scene reported.

Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “King of Spain, out,” as the monarch
and Queen Sofia arrived to open an electrical goods factory.

Plice said several windows of the courtroom were broken in the stone-throwing, while Basque regional police managed to contain the crowd and prevent them from reaching the nearby building housing the royal couple.

Meanwhile, earlier the Spanish Royal household announced Princess Cristina is to have a fourth baby.

This will be the sixth grandchild for King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.

The Royal family announced the news in a statement which read: “The Infanta Doña Cristina and Don Iñaki Urdangarin, the Duke and Duchess of Palma, have great pleasure in announcing that they are expecting the birth of their fourth child at the start of next summer.”

Princesa Cristina, 39, is the second eldest daughter of the Royal couple.

A former exhibition organiser for the CaixaForum art foundation, she married the current Duke of Palma in 1997 in Barcelona.

Her husband is a famous handball player in Spain and the couple met at the Barcelona Olympics.

They have three boys, Juan Valentín, five, Pablo Nicolás, four, and Miguel, two.

The couple live quietly in Barcelona, but earlier this year they had to change their house-buying plans after protests that they were spending too much on a luxury address in one of the city’s most exclusive areas.

Princesa Cristina is fifth in line to the Spanish throne.

The Bourbon family has ruled Spain since 1700, when Felipe V came to the throne.

The King and Queen, who were on a visit to the Basque Country, said they were “very happy” at the news.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news