BY SAMMY JULIAN
Manila News Bureau Chief
MANILA – “ME puede llamar felicidad. Suena bien (You can call me Happiness. It sounds great).”
This was the gracious response of Spain’s Queen Letizia to Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon after the latter inadvertently addressed the Spanish monarch as Queen “Felicity” or “Happiness” in his speech delivered during the recent 150th anniversary of the Spanish Red Cross in Madrid
In her first speech since the accession of her husband, King Felipe VI, to the throne of the Kingdom of Spain, Queen Letizia thanked Gordon whom she addressed as president of the Red Cross in the Philippines
“You can call me happiness,” she quipped in her speech delivered right after Gordon’s. “I think that’s a nice name. Yes, Queen Happiness. Thank you.”
The following day, the incident was front page news of broadsheets all over Spain, and even trended in the social media.
In a press statement issued after the event, Gordon said the Queen’s first speech “connected big-time before her compatriots.”
“Queen Letizia is not just a lovely face or royalty, she certainly radiates a great deal of charm and compassion and a sincere desire to engage her people,” the former senator said. “She is gifted with great wit and intelligence.”
King Felipe VI was sworn in on June 19 after his father, Juan Carlos abdicated after a 39-year reign amid accusations of corruption and excesses that have plagued the royal family while many Spaniards continue to struggle to find jobs and pull themselves out of financial ruin.
According to Gordon, he invited Queen Letizia to visit the Philippines as Patron of the Cruz Roja Española.
The Queen was also invited to personally see the recovery efforts of the Spanish Red Cross (SRC) in areas that super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) devastated November last year.
While in Madrid, Gordon also spoke of the Spanish Red Cross’ tremendous contribution to the relief and rehabilitation work of the Philippine Red Cross for disaster victims in the Philippines.
During his stint as Tourism secretary, Gordon met in 2003 then Spanish Queen Queen Sofia, mother-in-law of Queen Letizia./PN
