Spaniards Livid Over King's Elephant Hunt In one fell swoop, King Juan Carlos of Spain has managed to unite right and left, young and old, those with jobs and those without in universal outrage over his tone-deaf African hunting safari. As Spain foundered amid economic woes, what did the 74-year-old monarch do? He slipped away to hunt elephants in southern Africa. Let's count the ways that miscalculation of elephantine proportions has turned into a public relations disaster. A lavish trip amid severe economic pain at home. Interest rates for Spanish bonds have risen alarming in recent days, with fears mounting that the country could be the next in Europe to need a bailout. Not exactly the right time to go on an exotic holiday that one major paper estimated could cost twice a Spanish worker's average annual wages. Spain is also struggling with 23 percent unemployment - the highest in the 17-nation eurozone - which soars to nearly 50 percent for young workers. The trip makes the king's earlier comments about how he can't sleep at night thinking about the country's unemployed ring rather hollow. Awful. I think what the king did is awful," said Angelica Diaz, a 70-year-old homemaker pushing a baby stroller in Madrid. Because of the lack of solidarity with people here who are going hungry. What he did is wrong. He has to show more humanity. A secret trip that even the government did not know about. FILE - In this Oct. 6, 2008 file photo, King Juan Carlos gestures during the opening of the InterAmerican Press Society General Assembly in Madrid. No one's a stranger to having their face glow bright red with embarrassment, for some reason. But can anyone be cringing with it more right now than Spain's king? As his country floundered amid economic woe and worry last week, with fears of a bailout mounting and everyday people braving 23 percent unemployment, the monarch slipped away for a hunting safari in a far-flung corner of southern Africa to hunt elephants. This particular trip only became public when the king stumbled and fell before dawn Friday April 13, 2012 at his bungalow in the country of Botswana and fractured his right hip, forcing an emergency flight home and surgery. (AP Photo/Paul White, File) Close This particular trip - it is not clear if taxpayer money was used - only became public when the king stumbled and fell before dawn Friday at his bungalow in Botswana and fractured his right hip, forcing an emergency flight home and hip replacement surgery. The El Mundo newspaper said the king had not told Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government of his trip abroad until after the accident. A trip that just adds to royal family gaffes. Juan Carlos' family has been in the news lately - for all the wrong reasons. The king's son-in-law Inaki Urdangarin is a suspect in a corruption case, accused of using his position to embezzle several million euros in public contracts through a not-for-profit foundation he ran. Over Easter, the king's 13-year-old grandson shot himself in the foot with a shotgun, even though by law in Spain you must be 14 to handle a gun. The boy's father could face a fine. A trip that even outraged longtime supporters: The conservative newspaper El Mundo ran a cartoon with two scenes: the king's crown on the ground and the word "Bang! above it" - the loud report of an elephant gun - then the pachyderm thudding to the ground and smashing the crown to bits. The paper said the king has done a lot for Spain, especially overseeing its transition to democracy after the death of longtime dictator Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975. But its lead editorial on Sunday read "An irresponsible trip at the worst possible time." Juan Carlos should "admit his mistake and learn from what happened," the paper said, sounding as if it were admonishing a child. A trip that blasts a hole in the king's conservation credentials. The king is an honorary president of the Spanish branch of the World Wildlife Fund - which could raise questions about why an alleged conservation enthusiast is killing some of the most intelligent animals on the planet. A trip that leaves Spain with a fill-in monarch.