Handbags at dawn.

I cannot help but be wickedly amused by the furore caused at the Ibero-American summit in Santiago on Saturday by the Spanish King’s gruff retort to the Venezuelan President. In a verbal fisty-cuffs, Juan Carlos tried to silence Chavez who, despite his microphone being opportunely turned off, insisted on vocally chastising the former Spanish PM.

“Shut up” is in fact an incredibly common phrase in Spain. Anyone would flippantly shout it at his mother, the village priest or the television set. Not only this, but Juan Carlos clearly uses the familiar, friendly form of the verb in what appears to be nothing more than a mumble from a grumbling man in defence of his former Spanish Prime Minister amid talks of fascists and snakes.

Just imagine if Her Royal Highness had told Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond to zip it after he had slagged off Tony Blair. Ok, so it’s not quite the same. But anyway, my point is that it simply would not happen. It would completely go against the “stiff upper-lip” mentality still maintained by many a Brit. Shame. But the point is that what is deemed unthinkable over here is shrugged off as a mere aside over there.

Is the Spanish King not entitled to his own opinion and insults? It’s not as if Gordon and David don’t routinely verbally pulverise one another over lunch every Wednesday at Prime Minister’s Questions. In fact, it’s not the first time the hot-blooded King has publicly expressed his emotions. Visiting the Basque Country last year, he gave demonstrators the royal finger. Once again, he couldn’t contain himself, but then again, telling an over-excitable Venezuelan to pipe down is hardly a crime.

The whole fiasco has definitely attracted a rather unprecedented wave of media and public attention. Under any normal circumstances, what otherwise could have passed by as yet another political reunion where yet another group of middle-aged men sit around toying with the idea of world peace, has now been transformed into a YouTube hit.

But whether right or wrong, flippant remark or barbed command, what annoys me is that this fiery little outburst has totally overshadowed the true purpose of the three day summit. The leaders met to pledge to fight poverty and increase regional cooperation. Nearly 6 million migrant workers in Latin America, Spain and Portugal will be able to transfer social security benefits between their nations as a result of their encounter.

So perhaps Chavez and the King should kiss and make up, (hand-shaking is for us Northerners.) Maybe they should move on. Or maybe they should consider following the lead of the daring duo of French and German foreign ministers, Bernard Kouchner and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and whip up a little crooning R&B ditty to pacify the situation. They might even top the Christmas charts this year.