Officially at least, the current king has definitively cut ties with his father, who abdicated in 2014 over the divide caused between the monarchy and society by a succession of benefits and the scandals that surrounded his end with management. an economic crisis marked by deep social dislocations. that emblem hunting in botswana in all her glitz and where an accident reveals why she doesn’t visit her granddaughter in hospital, injured by a self-inflicted bullet, and the whereabouts of her lover, Corinna Larsen.

The outbreak didn’t stay private, but the king wanted to record it. “We do not comment on anything related to His Majesty King Juan Carlos. Nothing”, was Zarzuela’s response when asked by this medium about the king emeritus’ unexpected stopover in Vitoria during his recent visit to Spain to helm his sailboat, the Bribón, just a few hours in the Atlantic waters of the Sanxenxo.

The difference between the trip three weeks ago and one year ago was incredible. Juan Carlos de Borbón’s first visit to Spain after his (allegedly voluntary) exile in the capital of the United Arab Emirates caused a huge media stir that overwhelmed Zarzuela, and before that Moncloa came to prominence.

The press followed the former king’s movements to the millimeter, who left a succinct phrase summarizing his reign when the press present in the city of Pontevedra asked him about the tax irregularities and scandals that rocked the end of his term and the beginning of his reign. it was from his heirs. “An explanation for what?” he said, arrogantly.

After bargaining at Sanxenxo, Juan Carlos de Borbón traveled to Madrid, where he was received by the king, his son, at what had been his residence for decades, the Palacio de la Zarzuela. Casa del Rey issued a brief statement without a single reproach and left the door open for his father to rebuild his residence in Spain.

A year later, that option seems unlikely. Without going, at least as far as is known, to the extreme of Alfonso XII, who expressly prohibited his mother Isabel II from living in Spain through various letters signed by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (the main architect of the fraudulent political system during the Bourbon Restoration). The presumed reason: that of the former queen’s presence, the mandate designated by historiography as corruptprevent the regeneration and settlement of new kingdoms to launch a “new era”.

It was the last quarter of the 19th century. But, saving historical distances, it is a letter that could have been sent (perhaps via email or WhatsApp) from Madrid to Abu Dhabi. The reason is that Juan Carlos I’s second visit to Spain has revealed a definite separation between Felipe VI and his father, at least in public opinion, because fundamental economic problems still exist.

First, the former king’s travels became known to the media through the so-called “king emeritus circles”, and which were reduced to his court friends and several businessmen who maintained relations with him. But not only the Spaniards knew from the press: the King of Spain himself did it. At least that was what Zarzuela communicated. “We have learned about the trip through the media,” an official spokesperson told elDiario.es and other journalists who asked when Juan Carlos I’s intentions were known.

In 2022, an official visit by Felipe VI to the Emirates paved the way for the first homecoming of Juan Carlos I. In 2023, the king tried at all costs to ignore his father, to the point that Zarzuela twice rejected the reasons used by the emeritus to justify his trip, supposedly lunch with the King of Great Britain, Carlos III. Zarzuela instead received assistance from the British Royal House and Government, which supported the refusal.

The situation between the two had reached the point of denying each other in the media. Despite official denials by both monarchies, the “environmental emeritus” convinced El Mundo that he had indeed met Charles III in London. Zarzuela’s response was initial and one-sided: “Shortly after the British refused to meet Charles III again, the British ambassador telephoned the Head of the House to inform him that there was no meeting between Carlos III and King Juan Carlos.

funeral reunion

Unlike what happened a year ago, on this second visit Juan Carlos de Borbón has not been received by his son, and no one from the family has gone to see the expatriarch, unless reported.

In the past year, Felipe VI and his predecessor on the throne have met only twice, as far as is known. And both, at the royal funeral. The first, after the death of Elizabeth II of Great Britain, who is distantly related to the Bourbons.

The event left a photograph that the Spaniards had not seen in a long time: the two surviving monarchs that the country owned, together. Zarzuela explained that it was a matter of protocol and the location of both was a decision of the British Royal House.

However, the image was not repeated during the funeral of Constantine of Greece, Sofia’s brother and, therefore, Juan Carlos de Borbón’s brother-in-law and Felipe VI’s uncle. And all that suggests it will be because the personal relationship between the two families is obviously much more intense than with the British family. In fact, the queen emeritus has enjoyed Marivent Palace with her family for decades, and is doing so again this Holy Week.

But Constantine’s funeral left another, perhaps more shocking, image for many: Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, and the queen emeritus mourning the deaths of their family members. In the picture, there is no trace of the deceased brother-in-law, husband of the grieving sister, father of the grieving nephew and father-in-law of the nephew, rehabilitated by the Greeks after a public outburst many years ago with Sofía in Palma Cathedral. The photo was published by Casa del Rey herself.

Unofficially, on the other hand, footage has circulated which allows us to see how Felipe VI affectionately greeted his father during the burial. in order, broadcast by the Greek television channel Star, the smiling king is seen giving two kisses and patting Juan Carlos I on the shoulder, with whom he exchanged a few words. These images were not shared by State Headquarters, which sought to distance itself from the emeritus.

Juan Carlos is still officially a member of the Royal Family, but Zarzuela no longer considers him a ‘de facto’. “We are taking care of the official schedules of Her Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen. Don Juan Carlos has been withdrawn from all public activity for many years, ”said the official spokesperson for the Casa del Rey, ignoring that they were reporting on the activities of someone else: Sofía from Greece.

The king emeritus left Spain on a private ‘jet’ owned by the Emirati sheikh when he arrived, but before stopping in Vitoria. Unplanned two day stop, supposed to be for a health check. Allegedly because, once again, Zarzuela ignored a member of the Royal Family: “Wrong window. We do not own, provide, or confirm anything related to Don Juan Carlos. He is the one who publishes as he sees fit for himself, for his lawyers or for what the media calls his ‘entourage’”.

The failure of Juan Carlos’s visit was closed with a surprise in the story one of those that made the author of a gold series: the publication about the whereabouts of a secret princess and bastard king emeritus. Rejected information for the “neighborhood” referred to systematically by Zarzuela and that this Monday has been rejected by the alleged daughter.

Back in Abu Dhabi, it looks like roads are closed to allow Juan Carlos de Borbón to spend his remaining time in Spain, as he wishes. The king emeritus who was born in Rome, lives in Estoril and now lives in the Middle East, saw how his son publicly denied it. As he did with his own father, Juan de Borbón, who did not relinquish his dynastic rights until years after his son was named heir to dictator Franco.

Felipe VI publicly broke up with his father. But personally he still had to take care of a lot of paperwork. For example, the abandonment of inheritance in the tax haven which he published with full citizens ‘surprise’ at the arrival of a pandemic and a state of alert. A resignation that must be officially confirmed to go from word to fact.