King Juan Carlos’ Letters to Prince Felipe
Between September 1984 and June 1985, Spain’s King Juan Carlos wrote a series of letters to his son Prince Felipe, while the latter was at Lakefield College School in Ontario, Canada.
The text of these letters have been made public in a new book, The Prince and the King. Following are some excerpts from the letters, in which the king gives advice to his son on how to rule and conduct himself in public:
Those whom God has chosen to be kings and to be at the head of the destiny of a country do not have any other choice than to start to understand the importance and the special characteristics of the position, because one can say that they start to become adults long before other boys of their age….
If in this life it is as important to form and strengthen character enough to permit us to lead, it is not any less to know how to obey. In spite of the high positions that we hold in life, it will always be vital to know we also have duties to perform and obedience always involves real honour….
We have to build a closely united family, without fissures or contradictions, we must not forget that on all and on each one of us are fixed the eyes of Spaniards whom we should serve with body and soul….
You must show you are spirited, although you are tired; friendly, although you don’t feel like it; attentive, although you are not interested; obliging, although you don’t feel like it; totally dedicated to your mission, although this means privations and sacrifices … although you must be proud of who you are, you should not appear self-satisfied … I think everyone will consider you in a special way and because of this you must appear natural, but not vulgar: cultured and informed of problems, but not pedantic or conceited … In these times, it is now not possible to assume that they just give us all our rights and privileges because of our birthright and out situation. It is necessary to win them, to conserve them and to improve on them day by day, with the spirit of dedication and service….
You must not exaggerate extremes: not to be unsympathetic through an excess of rigidity or distancing yourself. Do not fall into the trap of putting too much trust in people and trying hard to appear in public with a forced fictitious friendliness…..
Wise words, from a ruling king to the one who will succeed him. I’m sure Prince Felipe took these to heart. It’s interesting to see what King Juan Carlos has distilled from his own experience to be important enough to commit in writing to his son.
via Telegraph
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POSTED IN: Spanish Royalty
1 opinion for King Juan Carlos’ Letters to Prince Felipe
Tonyo313
Jul 21, 2008 at 8:29 am
Wisdom for the ages, and words we could (should) ALL live by!
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