A journalist has defended the accuracy of his book that quotes Spain’s Queen Sofia criticizing gay marriage.
The book has irked the royal palace.
Spain’s king and queen are largely respected as figurehead representatives of the state and rarely speak out on political or social issues.
Veteran journalist Pilar Urbano released the book La Reina muy de cerca (“The queen, very close up”) this week to mark the queen’s 70th birthday on Sunday.
The journalist said Friday it was based on 15 interviews with Queen Sofia and that the Royal Palace approved the book’s galley proofs before it was published, news agency Efe reported.
“What the queen said is what my book says,” Urbano said.
The Royal Palace has challenged the comments attributed to the monarch, however, saying in a statement they “do not correspond exactly” with what she said.
The palace also said the book fails to reflect the queen’s traditional neutrality on public affairs or respect for people who suffer discrimination.
“I do not answer to the queen or king, or the Royal Palace. I answer to the truth,” Urbano told Efe.
In the book, the queen is quoted as addressing a wide range of issues and saying she opposes abortion and euthanasia. Spain allows the former under restricted circumstances, and outlaws the latter.
But the queen’s alleged remarks on same-sex marriage are the main source of friction and have angered gay rights groups.
Spain legalized gay marriage in 2005, becoming one of the few countries in the world to recognize same-sex couples as having the same rights as heterosexual ones, including the right to adopt children.
“If those persons want to live together, dress up as bride and groom and get married, they can do so, but that should not be called marriage because it is not,” the queen is quoted as saying in Urbano’s book.
The newspaper El Mundo said the queen erred by breaking with her tradition of quiet neutrality.
“As human as this burst of royal sincerity might be, certainly there were better ways to make Queen Sofia’s birthday a new tool for bringing society closer to the throne,” it said in an editorial.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS