Gov. Rick Scott told reporters in Miami on Thursday that he is sorry if he embarrassed Spanish King Juan Carlos by bringing up an embarrassing elephant-hunt scandal when the two men met as part of the governor's trade mission to Spain.
"If I did anything to do -- anything wrong -- I completely apologize," Scott said upon his arrival at Miami International Airport. "The king's a wonderful person. He's a wonderful world leader. He's done so many wonderful things in his life. And we had a great conversation."
The governor said spoke to the king about jobs and about the upcoming 500-year anniversary of the discovery of Florida by Spain in 1913 1513.
Scott said he meant no harm by asking the king about his hunting trip to Botswana, which caused an uproar among Spaniards who said the king should not have taken such an expensive vacation at a time when his country's economy is in peril. (Juan Carlos is also an honorary president of Spain's branch of the World Wildlife Fund.)
Spaniards found out about the trip after the king fell out of bed and hurt his hip.
"The first thing I asked him about it was his hip, of course, because he had been injured," Scott said.
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