Madrid - Thirteen year-old Felipe Juan Froilan is reported to have shot himself in the foot yesterday emulating his trigger-happy grandfather.
The son of Intifada - er...Infanta! - Elena, eldest child of the King and Queen, and Jaime de Marichalar pumped a bullet into his right foot on Monday afternoon.
It is not known whether he was aiming at anybody in particular at the time of the accident.
A spokesperson for the Spanish throne said today something similar happened in 1972 when King Juan Carlos was competing in the Olympics and 'accidentally' shot another competitor.
The athletes were taking part in a Dragon boat race.
In 2004 Juan Carlos was criticised in the media for shooting dead a pregnant bear in Romania and two years later a 'drunken' tame bear in Russia.
In 1984 he was made a Stranger Knight of the Order of the Garter following a shoot-out with Prince Philip over who should take the first pot-shot at striking UK coal miners.
Then in 1985 he accepted the Papal gong of the Vatican Drive-By Shooting (first class) for services rendered to the Papacy.
The trigger-happy controversy may be rooted in a March 1956 incident when Juan Carlos' younger brother Alfonso died in a 12-bore accident at the family home Villa Giralda in Estoril, Portugal.
Alfonso apparently was cleaning a revolver with his brother when the damn thing went off and hit him in the forehead.
The princelet died within minutes.
Tonight young Felipe Juan Froilan remains in hospital where his condition is described as stable.
Of course his mother's still doing her nut and has threatened to cut off his allowance of fifty bullets a week plus a few Euros for candy bars and fizzy pop.
Queen Sophia of Greece and Denmark is 69.
