What Do the Royals Have in Common With Andorra?

It’s about the size of a Kansas county. About a four-hour drive from Barcelona. Beautiful valley in the Pyrenees, full of ski resorts. Also, it’s not in the European Union, so you can buy duty-free booze and cigs up there. Used to be that when Spain had rationing, in the bad old days, people would go up there and buy butter and sugar and other “luxuries.” So the main street is lined by these big warehouses full of Scotch whisky and Marlboros, along with your standard McDonald’s, etc. to sustain the tourist crowds.

Slight nitpicky correction: The co-heads of state (i.e. the equivalent of say, Queen Elizabeth) of Andorra are the head of state of France and the bishop of La Seu d’Urgell in Spain. They exercise no power. The head of government is locally elected and actually runs the place; if I remember right his name is Marc Forné.

I imagine, however, that if Andorra should decide to develop nuclear missiles (highly unlikely – they don’t even have an army, just local gendarmes), somebody powerful up north might have something to say about it.