A young King Juan Carlos helped steer Spain from a dictatorship to a modern democracy after he came to the throne some 32 years ago, and his achievements include defending the fledgling democracy in 1981 from an attempted coup Once popular and regarded as a man of the people, recent times have been more troubling for the king as political groups on both the left and right have called for an end to the Spanish monarchy

Britain's Queen Elizabeth came to the British throne when she was only 25, and at her side has been Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who married the Queen in 1947 In the modern world of celebrities, celebrity relationships, marriages and highly publicised breakdowns - including that of her son Prince Charles and Princess Diana - it is easy to forget that the Queen has acted with grace and seldom complains of press coverage when it is unfavourable - unless it is simply untruthful, when the British Press Complaints body intervenes

Austria, Switzerland and Andorra were among the European ski countries last year who saw a decline in ski holiday visitors, and Andorra has been investing in her facilities to try and tempt the skiiers she lost back for the 2008 season In the past Andorra has grown in stature from a destination offering cheap ski holidays to one that can compete with the best that Europe has to offer, with a growing number of ski holidays being taken in the country over the last decade to the point where it was attracting some ten million tourists a year

An annual battle between holiday resorts to attract visiting tourists and their wallets each summer is over, and it appears that the Spanish island of Majorca has won over the British market at least Since the advent of package holidays some fifty years ago initiated by holiday companies such as Thomas Cook and Thomson Holidays, whole areas of Spain and other European countries have built their economies around tourism, and each year they hope that the holidaymakers will come to their area

Once a poor European country with no real economy, Andorra has been transformed in the past forty years to a vibrant independent State, sought after by the wealthy for her tax haven status, and skiers for her ski runs that match the best in Europe for facilities and ski holidays infrastructure The one drawback that Andorra has had is the distance from a major airport, two and a half hours drive to Barcelona in Spain or Toulouse in France, with some ski holidays starting with a night in one of the hotels in Barcelona before setting off for Andorra