Before I went to Belize I was told it is the same size as Wales, a traditional measurement of land mass in the UK.
For international readers Belize is slightly larger than Israel and New Jersey. I have an atlas (thank you, Christine) that depicts this sort of information graphically – a quirky addiction to my reference shelves. Yesterday, after going to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, we walked across the Retiro Park to find a place for lunch in the Calle Ibiza. The park is the same size as Hyde Park. For me a more useful yardstick is that it is slightly larger than Barmeath.
Tomorrow marks the 18th birthday of Princess Leonor, heir presumptive to the Spanish throne. She was educated at an international college in Wales popular with European royals, where she may have been taught that Wales is about 1 1/2 times smaller than Catalonia, before completing her education at various military and naval training institutions in Spain. ‘Twas not for ever thus. In the 19th century Prince Alfonso went to Sandhurst before becoming king aged just eighteen in 1874. He was Alfonso XII, ruled for only eight years and was considered A Good King. The equestrian statue on top of a colonnade overlooking the boating lake depicts him and our hotel is called after him. He died of dysentery aggravated by tuberculosis. Although he was the first King Alfonso of a united Spain he is called the twelfth because of the eleven kings of Asturias, León and Castile also named Alfonso that preceded him.
Britain in the 19th century was reasonably stable politically, with a few wobbles. On the continent the wobbles were more pronounced. Alfonso’s mother, Queen Isabella II, was overthrown in 1868 and a republic ensued. This was when Retiro, hitherto the property of the Spanish monarchy, passed into public ownership as a park. After this six year experiment a military coup placed young Alfonso on the throne. As Charles mentioned yesterday, the park has beautiful cedars as well as statuary, water features and various pavilions and the like; a breath of fresh air in the centre of Madrid.
