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From The Sunday Times

November 2, 2008

Queen reveals food fight with Moroccan king

Matthew Campbell

The Spanish royals seldom let down their guard, but Queen Sofia has offered an unusual insight into the mean world of Mediterranean diplomacy by accusing the former king of Morocco of feeding her meat, even though he knew she was a vegetarian.

When King Hassan II, ruler of Morocco from 1961 until his death in 1999, visited the Spanish royals at their palace in Madrid, he brought all his food with him, says Sofia, 70 today, in The Queen Up Close, a biography that appeared last week.

“It was a little thing, but it really bothered me,” she said. “He brought with him not only his cooks and scullions, but also beef, chickens, cheeses, lettuces, flour and butter to make the couscous.”

She went on: “He would say that it was for his religion . . . but he didn’t trust us.”

The queen added: “Knowing that I do not eat meat, when he invited us [to Morocco] I would find it in all the dishes, disguised and hidden in doughnuts, in croquettes, in raviolis, in the rice, in the salad . . . a nightmare!”

Her comments were certain to strain already difficult relations with Rabat, but our Queen, at least, might sympathise with her – she was furious when Hassan kept her waiting for two hours in1980 when she was on a visit to Morocco.

Sofia, a cousin of Prince Philip, has also annoyed Spain’s gays and lesbians by attacking “gay pride” marches.

She told Pilar Urbano, her biographer, that she could “understand, accept and respect” the fact that there are people of other sexual tendencies, but questioned why they should be proud of it and “get on floats and show up at demonstrations. If all of us who are not gay demonstrated . . . we’d cause gridlock”.

She also questioned whether same-sex unions, legal in Spain since 2005, could be called “marriage”, suggesting “social contract” instead.

Antonio Poveda, head of a gay lobby group, called her comments “a tremendous surprise”. Sofia is known for her discretion and has seldom expressed herself publicly since arriving in Spain 46 years ago.

The palace said that the comments attributed to Sofia did not “exactly correspond” to her views, and yet the author says the palace’s approval was given before publication.

In other comments, the queen praised Barack Obama, America’s Democrat presidential candidate, as “a sincere, intelligent and effective” leader. “I feel very satisfied at the possibility that a black man can rise so high,” she said.

At the same time, she made clear her soft spot for his defeated rival Hillary Clinton. “They were merciless with her,” she said. “The poor thing must have suffered a lot. The Hillary that I know is a woman of great human qualities.”

Her husband King Juan Carlos had “connected very well” with President Bill Clinton, she said. “There was good chemistry very quickly.”

She brushed off attacks against the Spanish monarchy, such as the burning of her husband’s picture by Catalan nationalists. “It was a few university students . . . it wasn’t widespread,” she said. “But . . . we hadn’t seen that before. I told them [in the palace]: ‘They’re just photos, they’re not burning us . . . they’re burning photos, pieces of paper, it will get put out’.”

She added that her husband would reign until his death. “The king is not tired and the prince is not impatient,” she said, referring to Prince Felipe, the heir to the throne.

Felipe, who is married to Letizia, the Princess of Asturias, would be a different monarch from his father, Sofia predicted. Young European royals these days, she said, had been “ educated in the same universities and academies as other youngsters of their generation”, and were more “open to the debates taking place on the street”.

Her British cousins might identify with her stiff upper lip. “We have to swallow the pill,” Sofia said. “Welcoming people, greeting, smiling as if nothing was out of the ordinary. The monarchy is not all feathers and thrones. It is service.”