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The Princess of Asturias was on her way to a hospital visit, when a deranged man threw himself at her delegation, yelling, “Death to the King!” 
Crown Princess Letizia was not harmed and continued with her official visit as planned.
Royal bodyguards detained the man, described as 55 year-old Argentine with psychiatric issues.
Besides that incident, Letizia was able to have an exciting day at the University Hospital of Son Dureta, where she visited the children being treated there.
She also had the chance to witness the works of the Medical Smile Association, a group of clowns who entertain sick children in the hospital.
The Crown Princess first visited the children and adolescents in the oncology ward and the unit for the chronically ill. She then moved onto the game room to see firsthand the methodology the clowns use to brighten up the days of the children.
Letizia laughed and helped entertain the children herself, clearly unaffected by the attack that happened earlier.
She spent some time talking to the parents as well in the game room.
The Princess of Asturias has been working a lot lately with people who suffer from illnesses, particularly children. In December, she very privately met with children in Madrid hospitals, unbeknown to the media.
At last, the big news has been announced! 
After seven years of dating, Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria is engaged to marry gym owner Daniel Westling.
“Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel are engaged and are due to be married in the early summer of 2010,” a court spokeswoman said. “Daniel will have the title of Prince Daniel, Duke of Vastergotland.”
The couple first began dating in 2002, after the 31 year old future Queen started to attend one of Westling’s Stockholm gyms.
Rumors of a wedding have been rampant for years. Last year, speculations increased when 35 year old Daniel moved into the royal palace.
On the Swedish royal court’s official website, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia joined the newly engaged couple for an online announcement.
“Dear Swedes, at home and abroad. Yes, this is how I tend to begin my speeches on radio and TV when there is something I wish to convey. And, as you may have guessed, there is something very special I would like to convey: namely, the public announcement today of the engagement of Crown Princess Victoria and Mr Daniel Westling,” said the King, while exchanging glances with his smiling daughter.
 Crown Princes Victoria said in the film that she was proud to represent Sweden but that it was easier with help from her fiancé.
“With Daniel by my side I feel secure. You have probably noticed in recent years that I have seemed stronger and happier. And now the time has come to begin preparations for starting something of our own and creating a family,” sad Victoria, while looking at at her future husband.
Queen Silvia was full of praise for Westling.
“We welcome Daniel into our family with open arms. I view him as a man who is humble yet decisive, as well as judicious and wise. You are full of energy, considerate and will make a wonderful husband for Victoria.”
The Queen then turned to her daughter.
“We have full confidence in you and your choice, Victoria, and I will do everything to support you. A new chapter is now being written and I am very pleased,” she said.
Daniel Westling, who appeared moved by the occasion, looked straight into the camera and said:
“The Crown Princess and I have found each other and our love has grown strong over the years. I want to thank the King and I want to thank the Queen,” said the future Prince.
Royal expert Jenny Alexandersson, who has reported on the crown princess for celebrity magazine Svensk Damtidning since 2003, said the wedding would be “fantastic” for Sweden, especially considering the current economic crisis.
“The fact that Sweden’s heir to the throne will marry will give echoes around the world. It will be a great big wedding with more than 1,000 guests, including representatives from all big royal families,” Alexandersson said.
She also said the wedding would be important for the Swedish monarchy.
“We have seen in our neighboring countries Norway and Denmark that the popularity of the monarchy has risen at times of royal weddings,” she said.
And Andersson didn’t expect the current financial crisis to put a crimp on the celebrations.
“I don’t think we’re going to see a low budget wedding because of the financial crisis. This has been expected for a few years now and there is already money set aside in the budget,” she said.
“When it comes to Swedes and money, I’m not afraid that we will spend too much.”
Next year marks the Bernadotte dynasty’s 200 years as the Swedish royal family.
So, with a wedding and a bicentennial celebration, 2010 will be a festive time for Sweden!
Congratulations to the happy couple!
Click here to watch the couple and the King and Queen speak about the engagement (but its in Swedish)
The heir to Japan’s throne spoke of concern for his father and praised his wife, in an interview given just days before turning 49 years-old. 
Crown Prince Naruhito emphasized the importance of people around Emperor Akihito, including himself, thoroughly contemplating the issue of alleviating his burden while respecting his wish to fulfill his duties.
“I will do whatever it takes to help improve the situation,” the Crown Prince said.
In January, the Imperial Household Agency announced that duties for the Emperor and his wife, Empress Michiko, would be reduced.
Concern for the 75 year-old Emperor increased last December, when it was revealed that he was suffering from a stomach ulcer, possibly due to stress. It is believed tensions between the Emperor and the Crown Prince are the cause for the illness.
Asked by a reporter for his opinion on the Imperial succession, widely believed to be one of the sources of the Emperor’s stress, the Crown Prince said he should refrain from making comments even though the issue is important.
 As for the issue of the mental health of Crown Princess Masako, Naruhito said, “Masako and I are both pleased that she is becoming able to carry out public duties that she could not before.”
But Naruhito, speaking Friday, said she must not push herself when she is in good health as it could hamper her progress.
“Her doctor has told me that she needs to take careful steps so that her condition does not regress by pushing herself too hard,” the Crown Prince said, adding she should be “in no hurry” to make her full return to official duties.
The doctor has also said it would be desirable for the princess to find her “life work” in addition to bringing up children, he said.
Masako had a successful career as a diplomat before marrying Naruhito in 1993. She was expected to produce a male heir, but instead was childless for many years. Her only child, a daughter named Aiko, was born in December 2001. Pressures to produce a son and the strain of being a Crown Princess caused Masako to develop a stress-induced illness, and she has been seen little in public since 2003.
Succession issues has been a major issue for the Japanese Imperial Family. The Emperor has only one grandson, 2 year-old Hisahito, the son of Naruhito’s brother. Talk of changing the succession laws to allow women to inherit the Chrysanthemum throne linger, especially since experts say one male heir is not enough to secure the Japanese monarchy.
Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz is reportedly in New York City, undergoing medical tests. There are no further details about his condition. 
The 81 year old heir to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has spent the last six weeks recuperating in Morocco after having medical tests in the US last year.
One of King Abdullah’s half-brothers, he has been the Saudi defense minister for more than 40 years.
His son Bandar was Saudi ambassador to the US until July 2005.
The Crown Prince also underwent “routine medical examinations” in Switzerland last April and left after having been given a clean bill of health by his doctors, the authorities said at the time.
In May 2004, he underwent surgery in a Saudi military hospital to remove a polyp from his intestines.
After spending over a month being treated for bronchial pneumonia, Belgium’s Queen Fabiola was released from the Saint John’s Hospital in Brussels on Friday.
Having gone in originally on January 16th, the 80 year-old widow of King Baudouin, was in the intensive care unit until February 9th.
But according to the Palace, the Queen is doing much better, and is continuing her recovery at home.
The Spanish born Fabiola married King Baudouin in 1960. From then until 1993, she was Belgium’s Queen.
After the death of her husband, she is known as the Dowager Queen.
A recent report says 42 percent of pregnant women in Swaziland are infected with the HIV virus. 
That is a 3 percent increase from last year.
Activists are pointing the finger at Swaziland’s absolute monarch, King Mswati III, for doing little to prevent the increase by promoting safe sex and HIV testing. They also say he sends the wrong message by having 13 wives.
“The nation, especially polygamous men, look up to the monarch,” said Sphiwe Hlophe, who runs a support group called Swaziland Positive Living.
The tiny kingdom located in southern Africa, has the highest AIDS rate in the world, and life expectancy is only at 37 years.
What little Swaziland does do is promote male circumcision, which can reduced HIV chances by 60 percent. But there are fears that this might backfire by making men more complacent and more likely to have unprotected sexual intercourse.
Swaziland also has made strides in preventing the transmission of HIV from mother to child. In 2003, only 5 percent of women infected with HIV got drugs to protect their unborn babies. This increased to 67 percent in 2007, according to a report prepared by UNICEF, the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and the U.N. Population Fund.
Prince Max of Liechtenstein, is being targeted by a German tax evasion probe. It is said the brother of the ruler of the principality avoided paying taxes on investment gains while living in Germany. 
Lawyers of the prince, who is CEO of the LGT Group, the royal family’s bank, say Prince Max will pay back all taxes owed, but challenges the accusations.
“I have always fulfilled my tax duties in Germany to the best of my knowledge,” Prince Max said in an e-mailed statement distributed by LGT Group late Thursday. “If, contrary to my conviction, it turns out that I owe taxes to the German state, I will meet my obligations promptly.”
Max, who lived in Germany for a year from January 1999 and then from September 2001, met with German authorities in December and pledged to cooperate, the LGT statement said.
But his brother, Prince Alois, says his brother is being targeted because of the tension between Germany and the micro-state located in the Alps. Germany has recently been tracking down tax cheats.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has Liechtenstein on its list of uncooperative tax havens, along with Andorra and Monaco.
The accusation centers on a foundation set up by the princely family for its members. The prince’s lawyers say Max drew no payments from the account while he lived in Germany, but rather secured credit that wasn’t taxable — and that the assets belonged to the family rather than the prince, LGT said.
The German authorities say the prince owes taxes on the assets of the entire foundation because most of the payments from it went to him, according to the LGT statement.
 Harry Nicolaides, the Australian who gained international attention after being jailed for insulting Thailand’s King, has been set free after receiving a pardon from King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
A lawyer for Nicolaides said he was released Friday and taken to the Australian embassy in Bangkok, where he stayed until leaving for Australia at about midnight.
“He is obviously very relieved and grateful that the pardon was granted,” the lawyer said.
41 year old Nicolaides was originally sentenced to three years in a Thai prison for writing a minimally published book, which contained criticisms of Thailand’s revered royal family.
But King Bhumibol, who in past said he can be criticized, pardoned him.
Lese-majeste laws in Thailand have been criticized for blocking freedom of speech and crush political dissent.
The daughter of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth was in Melbourne today, paying her respects to those who died in the recent Australian bushfires. 
Princess Anne was representing the Queen, and joined in the national mourning this past weekend.
The fires that occurred earlier this month were the worst in Australia’s history, and killed about 209 people.
In her speech at the nationally broadcast memorial service, the Princess Royal said, “Individuals and towns have responded with resilience, ingenuity, courage and selflessness to situations that were changing at terrifying speed.
“People from around Australia and across the world watched in horror but with admiration at their response. “
Princess Anne will tour some areas devastated by the fires, and also visit Melbourne’s bushfire emergency control center.
The bushfires are under investigation, and are suspected to have been the cause of arson.
One man has been charged so far.
King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia are in Florida to mark the city of Pensacola’s 450th anniversary. The city was settled in 1559 by Spanish explorer Tristan de Luna. 
This is the latest stop for the King and Queen on their tour of the Carribean which began earlier this week.
When the Spanish royal couple arrived in Pensacola Thursday morning, they were greeted by hundreds of residents waving Spanish flags.
Even more residents – this time schoolchildren – cheered as the King and Queen drove in a motorcade from the airport to downtown to Pensacola.
King Juan Carlos delivered a 10-minute speech from the balcony of the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum, thanking Pensacola for preserving “our common heritage.”
“The Queen joins me to thank you from our hearts for your kind invitation to this beautiful and dynamic city, which contains so much of the shared history of Spain and the United States,” he said. “We have always wanted to visit you.”
The King also cried out “Viva Pensacola!” and the citizens in attendance answered back “Viva Spain!”
King Juan Carlos said the 1,500 men, women and children on Luna’s expedition were “guided by the hope of achieving through hard work a better life for them and their children, the same spirit of so many others who came later to the United States.”
The seeds of that “extraordinary adventure took root and flourished” and paved the way for the development of Pensacola, a city with a “culture and heritage among the richest in North America,” he said.
King Juan Carlos noted Spain’s military role in the Battle of Pensacola in 1783, which took Florida from the British during the American Revolution.
“We are so pleased Spanish military tradition lives in this city nowadays through … our pilots being trained here in Pensacola, the Cradle of Naval Aviation,” he said, speaking about the Spanish pilots who train at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
 The royal couple were joined on the balcony by Gov. Charlie Crist, Pensacola Mayor Mike Wiggins, Escambia County Commissioner Marie Young, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller.
President Barack Obama was unable to attend the arrival of the royal couple. Earlier this week, he personally called them offering an apology.
So, it was up to Governor Crist to oversee the royal visit.
“Though thousands of miles separate us, centuries of history and culture keep us together forever,” Crist said.
After the speech, the King and Queen walked among the Pensacola residents, shaking hands and speaking to them.
One resident, Suzie Korleski, a native of Spain who lives in Fort Walton Beach, cried out, “Viva Juan Carlos. Viva Sofia.”
Later on, Juan Carlos and Sofia visited Fort George, where the Spanish defeated the British in 1781, and the USS Cabot, a World War II aircraft carrier later lent to Spain.
Today, Juan Carlos and Sofia are in Miami for the Florida-Spain Business Forum, where they will discuss the state’s relationship with Spain.
This visit to Florida is the King’s second visit to the United States since being crowned in 1975.
Pensacola, located off the Gulf of Mexico, was destroyed two years later by a cyclone and was not populated until over a century later by another Spanish expedition.
St. Augustine on Florida’s Atlantic coast, founded by Spanish settlers in 1565, is considered the oldest continually-occupied European-established city in the United States
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