Simon Bolivar Meets Ferdinand at Sport October 13, 2016
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Simon Bolivar was a Venezuelan troublemaker who would lead the Spanish Americas to freedom. Ferdinand VII was the cretinous Spanish monarch who would allow this to happen. What Beach had not known until recently was that Bolivar and Ferdinand actually met as boys in 1800 in extraordinary circumstances. Bolivar (right) was seventeen; Ferdinand (left) was sixteen. The story appears in Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera, Memoria sobra la vida del General Simon Bolivar. It was based on a first-hand account from the Liberador himself, who had problems but was no liar. In his mid late teens Simon had lived in Madrid when he had, through the queen’s alleged lover, Manuel Mallo, become friendly with the royal family. On one occasion the young Ferdinand had challenged Simon Bolivar to badminton with unhappy results. If this is true it is an extraordinary meeting, a real WIBT.
Fate had it that one night the young Simon Bolivar found himself in a house where Queen Maria Luisa had arrived disguised. Bolivar re-accompanied her to the Court. This gave the Queen a certain confidence in him. It meant that he found himself in royal circles with relative ease. The Prince of Asturias, Ferdinand, asked Simon to play one afternoon in Aranjuez [near Madrid] at rackets. Bolivar [implication is accidentally] hit the prince with the racket on the head and the prince became angry. The Queen who was present, though, obliged the prince to continue the game. She did so since asking Bolivar to play he had put himself at Bolivar’s level [good translation?]. The Liberator told me this story saying with an air of satisfaction: ‘Who would have guessed that this accident was a harbinger and that I would rip the most precious jewel from his crown?’ [i.e. the Americas]
(La casualidad proporcionó al joven Bolívar hallarse una noche en una casa adonde había salido disfrazada la Reina María Luisa, y la acompañó en su regreso a la Corte; circunstancia que influyó mucho en el aprecio que hacía la Reina de él, le proporcionó estar en los sitios reales con bastante confianza. El Príncipe de Asturias, Fernando, le invitó una tarde en Aranjuez a jugar a la raqueta, y diole al Príncipe con el volante en la cabeza, por cuya razón se molestó; pero su madre, que estaba presente, le obligó a continuar el juego, porque desde que convidó a un joven caballero para distraerse se había igualado a él. Me refería el Libertador esta anécdota diciéndome con un aire de satisfacción: ¿Quién le hubiera anunciado a Fernando VII que tal accidente era el presagio de que yo le debía arrancar la más preciosa joya de su corona?)
Too good to be true? drbeachcombing At yahoo DOT com In any case worth telling and possibly more proof that racket games are dangerous to continental monarchs.
