QUEEN BAPTISES DONKEY

During her visit to the Fundación Casa del Burro (Donkey's Home Foundation) in Rute, Cordoba province, last week, Queen Sofia gave the name of Lluvia (Rain) to a young Andalucian donkey and baptised him with drops of the local anis instead of holy water. Lluvia is the son of Camila, who was named after her "adopted" father, the writer Camilo José Cela. Lluvia now joins the other donkeys which have been "adopted" by the Royal family in recent years. During a tour of the Foundation, director Pascual Rovira described the work being done to save the Andalucian breed of donkey from extinction and introduced the Queen to several of the donkeys, one of whom - called Mandela - insisted on kissing the royal visitor. Despite having spent the first ten years of his life working underground in a cave in the Alpujarras, Mandela is very playful and affectionate.