Spain’s Ex-King Finally Breaks Silence On Death Of His Brother As They Cleaned A Gun
PARIS/MADRID, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Spain’s disgraced former king Juan Carlos feels abandoned and misunderstood by his son and heir, King Felipe VI, and other close family members, according to his memoir that went on sale in France on Wednesday.
In “Reconciliation,” 87-year-old Juan Carlos said he understood why Felipe had to be “as firm as a king” in public, keeping his father away from him, but said it was painful that he “was insensitive as a son.”
Juan Carlos, who played a key role in Spain’s transition to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco, said he was deeply saddened by his relationship with Danish-German socialite Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, which damaged his reputation among his compatriots and led to his downfall and voluntary exile in Abu Dhabi.
“I gave freedom to the Spanish people by establishing democracy, but I could never enjoy this freedom on my own,” he wrote. “I now realize that I was never free when my son turned his back on me outside of duty, when those who called themselves my friends turned their backs on me.”
Juan Carlos said that he wanted to return to Spain, enjoy a quiet retirement and a harmonious relationship with Felipe, and be buried with state honours.
Juan Carlos said the 512-page memoir, written with French journalist and author Laurence Debray, was an attempt to reclaim his legacy after decades of scandal.
“My father always advised me not to write my memoirs,” he wrote. “(The kings’) secrets are hidden in the shadows of their palaces. Why do I disobey him today? I feel like my story is being stolen from me.”
THE FORMER KING SAID HE RESPECTED FRANCO VERY MUCH
He was born in exile in Italy during the Spanish Civil War in 1938. He was separated from his parents at the age of 10 after being summoned to Spain by Franco. Franco groomed him as his successor.
Juan Carlos said that he began to admire Franco, who ruled Spain for 36 years.
“I respected him very much, admired his intelligence and political understanding,” wrote Juan Carlos, who was crowned king two days after Franco’s death in 1975.
He also wrote about the death of his 14-year-old brother Alfonso in Portugal in 1956, while the pair were cleaning a gun; He said this was the first time he talked about this traumatic event.
“I lost a friend, a confidant. It left a huge void,” Juan Carlos wrote. “If it hadn’t been for his death, my life would have been less gloomy, less unhappy.”
As king, Juan Carlos quickly implemented reforms that led to democratic elections in 1977. For much of his reign, he was a popular figure for the role he played in shepherding Spain’s transition to democracy.
But public opinion turned against him in 2012, at the height of Spain’s financial crisis, when many Spaniards lost their jobs after details emerged of a lavish elephant hunting expedition with Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn in Botswana.
He abdicated in 2014 and moved to the United Arab Emirates in 2020.
Felipe canceled his salary when it became known that he was the subject of money laundering investigations in Spain and Switzerland. Both cases were eventually dropped. “I am accused of numerous crimes, without any evidence or basis, of enriching myself through so-called kickbacks,” he wrote.
He said the extramarital affairs attributed to him by the media, including an alleged tryst with the late Princess Diana, were “for the most part completely fictitious”. He wrote that he found Diana “cold, reticent and distant except for the presence of the paparazzi.”
“Reconciliation” was released in France on Wednesday by Editions Stock and will be released in Spain by Planeta on December 3.
(Reporting by Lewis Macdonald, Aislinn Laing and Charlie Devereux, additional reporting by Inti Landauro Editing, Gareth Jones).
