The Queen's Pizza

Does Queen Paola like pizza? We assume most Italians, like the Queen, do but maybe she does not like this particular pizza perhaps. In 1889 World Pizza Days in Naples, Italy named a pizza after their own queen, Margherita, which had red, white and green toppings because the Queen was known for being so zealous an Italian nationalist and patriot. In 1999, we are told, this was done again with a pizza named for the only Italian-born Queen of a country today, our own Queen Paola. They named it for her and took it to the Laeken palace, never seeing the Family Royal but later being given a nice note of appreciation from the Queen for her own "Paola Pizza". Now it again has happened with the Paola II Pizza and the Queen is not the only one. Also Queen Beatrix of The Nederlands has been given her own special pizza also. But this time it seems there is some discomfort from the Royal Court in Brussels and lots of accusations and counter-accusations are going around. The new Queen Paola pizza has toppings from the Naples region with Melannurca, an apple with a deep red color but the Belgian court does not seem happy. The statement of a spokesman said, "The monarchy was neither previously nor subsequently informed of that name," which refers to the concept that usually one asks for permission before naming something after the King or Queen (did they do so before I wonder?) and, "Fortunately, even now only the first name is used, which after all, can refer to any other woman. But it was elegant and would have been polite to first ask permission". What will the palace do in the great pizza battle? Nothing. The Queen maybe even liked it, we do not know -do not know even if she tried it yet. However, the pizza-makers in Naples may have bigger problems because the people who made the first pizza are now upset that they are being surpassed with more media attention because of this latest problem and now they are demanding compensation from these new chefs for taking their idea of a Queen Paola pizza. Really, it seems Naples takes their pizza very seriously and poor Queen Paola gets stuck in the middle of the disturbance.