Spain’s former king says Princess Diana was ‘cold, distant, except in the presence of paparazzi’ and denies having an affair with her in new memoir

The former king of Spain has claimed in his shocking new memoir that Princess Diana was ‘cold’ and ‘distant’ except for the presence of paparazzi.

Disgraced former ruler Juan Carlos, who allegedly had numerous extramarital affairs, also denied having an affair with her in a book titled ‘Reconciliation’, to be published next week.

Carlos claimed that Diana was “cold, taciturn and distant except for the presence of paparazzi”.

Speculation about Diana’s relationship with Carlos has been fueled since the 1980s after Diana, Prince Charles, William and Harry stayed at Marivent Palace, the Spanish royal family’s summer residence in Palma de Mallorca, on four separate occasions.

However, Diana was said to have been turned down by the former king. Biographer Andrew Morton said he described him as ‘a very lascivious man’.

According to Morton’s book Ladies of Spain, she told friends after her visit to Mallorca: ‘I felt uncomfortable being alone in a room with her, but I assure you nothing happened.’

Carlos is said to be so womanizing that Spain’s secret service had to inject him with female hormones to reduce his sexual urges because he was ‘a problem for the state’.

José Manuel Villarejo, a former police commissioner, made the claim at a parliamentary hearing in 2024.

Princess Diana was said to have been turned down by the former king

He claimed that the country’s National Intelligence Center injected Carlos ‘with female hormones and testosterone inhibitors to lower his libido, because it was understood that the fact that he was such a fiery and passionate person was a problem for the state.’

His alleged affair with businesswoman and socialite Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein is one of the many reasons for his abdication in 2014.

Diana allegedly had many affairs throughout her life.

According to a friend who spoke to Sally Bedell Smith, author of ‘Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess’: ‘She collected men in old-fashioned romantic ways.

‘He would look at you with his eyes downcast… Deep down you knew it was a game he was playing and it was very clever in a way, he wasn’t sarcastic but he won everyone over by doing it.’

Her first alleged affair is said to have occurred in 1985 when she fell in love with her bodyguard, Barry Mannakee.

Tina Brown, author of ‘The Diana Chronicles’, said: ‘For a woman in a golden cage, bodyguards are an obvious candidate for romantic obsession.

‘A bodyguard may be the only real man a princess will ever meet. His strong shoulders clear the way in front of him in the crowd.

‘His firm hand on the elbow directs his manager to the shelter of a waiting car.’

Diana reportedly said in a recorded conversation about Mannakee: ‘I was only happy when he was around.

‘All this time I was like a little girl in front of him, needing praise. Hopeless’.