A year and eight months after leaving Spain accused of crimes related to illegal commissions, hidden accounts in tax havens and tax evasion, Juan Carlos I returned this Thursday to step on the soil of the country where he reigned for 39 years.
He did it at the Peinador airport, Vigo, and for a few seconds: the time it took to get into the car of his closest friend during this period of ostracism, sailor Pedro Campos.
Juan Carlos de Borbón was one of the last to descend the ladder of a private Gulfstream G450, with capacity for 16 people, which traveled non-stop the 6,000 kilometers from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, to Vigo;
It was the third most followed flight in real time on the Flightradar24 website, which reports all the air traffic that occurs on the planet.
Minutes before his appearance in the sky over Vigo, a small crowd gathered (about 40 people, most of whom had landed from Tenerife just at that moment), with their cell phones raised trying to capture the arrival of Juan Carlos I's plane as If I were Superman.
A boy monitored the flight with his friend.
"Get to Redondela now."
The other looked: "Oh, yes?".
"Yes, but he just turned around and goes back to Arabia, because he looked at your face through the window."
That was the tone.
Neither gravity nor enthusiasm;
a bit of people, a bit of curiosity and a bit of fun.
A boy monitored the flight with his friend.
"Get to Redondela now."
The other looked: "Oh, yes?".
"Yes, but he just turned around and goes back to Arabia, because he looked at your face through the window."
That was the tone.
Neither gravity nor enthusiasm;
a bit of people, a bit of curiosity and a bit of fun.
A boy monitored the flight with his friend.
"Get to Redondela now."
The other looked: "Oh, yes?".
"Yes, but he just turned around and goes back to Arabia, because he looked at your face through the window."
That was the tone.
Neither gravity nor enthusiasm;
a bit of people, a bit of curiosity and a bit of fun.
More information
The emeritus king returns to Spain after agreeing not to stay in La Zarzuela
With everyone looking at the sky in the distance, in an absolutely cinematographic scene, suddenly, at 7:14 p.m., the private plane in which the man who was everything in Spain for four decades was traveling rolled.
Many photographers and cameras, less public, and a cloudy day.
Campos's metallic gray car stopped just in front of the media, just three seconds, so that the windows could be lowered (traditional folksy gesture) and the king emeritus could greet journalists and onlookers;
At that moment a female voice shouted: "Welcome to Spain, Your Majesty!", a moment that Campos took advantage of to roll up the window in a hurry and shoot out of the airport followed by the escort.
They missed one of the few who came to the airport on purpose;
He took a Spanish flag out of his coat, spread it out and,
With everyone waiting for an important manifesto, he shouted with a swollen vein: “Juaaaaaaaancar!”.
It was the best summary of the return of the king emeritus, present at all hours in the media and hardly on the street, without arousing interest at the airport or in Sanxenxo, except as a recurring joke, almost never as a matter to be dealt with with the solemnity of the politicians.
"It's a man who comes to spend a few days here, do we forbid him to live?", An innkeeper from the town answered laconically this noon.
654 days have passed since, on August 3, 2020, the Royal House communicated, with the monarch already outside of Spain, that the old king had left the country “guided by the conviction of providing the best service to the Spanish, to its institutions and to you as king”, according to the words addressed to his son, Felipe VI, current monarch, who had distanced himself from him by rejecting his inheritance, stripping him of any institutional activity and, finally, and given the magnitude of the scandals, agreeing with the Government the departure from Spain of his father with historical overtones: a Bourbon, again, leaving abroad against his will.
There were hardly any people at the Peinador airport at six in the afternoon, an hour before the King Emeritus landed in Spain.
The arrivals board announced flights from Tenerife, Madrid, Barcelona and again Madrid.
None from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the emeritus's place of residence.
A group of journalists had been stationed since noon at the door through which it was presumed that Campos's car and Juan Carlos I's escort would leave in the direction of Sanxenxo, where it would enter directly into the sailor's house in the Nanín parish, a few meters from the Atlantic and five minutes from the Sanxenxo marina.
Nothing more.
About thirty passengers scattered around the airport and a discreet police operation being more demanding than on other occasions: “You can't leave your car here;
never, but today less”.
The emeritus king landed this Thursday afternoon at Peinador airport, in Vigo (Pontevedra), for a five-day stay, after 654 days expatriate in Abu Dhabi.
The aircraft in which the former head of state has returned is a Gulfstream G450, a 'jet' registered in Aruba (Netherlands Antilles) owned by the Angolan company Bestfly.Salvador Sas (EFE)
The first thing he has done at the foot of the stairs has been to hug his eldest daughter, the Infanta Elena, who had been waiting for him at the airport for two hours before, and greet those who have received him;
among them, his host, the president of the Sanxenxo Yacht Club (Pontevedra), Pedro Campos, and his wife, Cristina Franze.
Raul Terrel (Europa Press)
The aircraft was scheduled to land at 6:23 p.m., but arrived at 7:14 p.m., almost an hour late.
Seven minutes later, the king emeritus has descended from the plane.
He has done it on his own feet, cautiously but decisively, despite his mobility problems.
Already on the track, he has taken a cane and leaned on the arm of a companion.Samuel Sánchez
Juan Carlos I (on the left, in the passenger seat) greets from inside a vehicle after his arrival at Vigo's Peinador airport. Salvador Sas (EFE)
The delegation, led by a police vehicle, has gone to Campos' home in Sanxenxo, where the former head of state is expected to stay until Monday, when he travels to Madrid to meet at the Zarzuela palace with Felipe VI and Queen Sofia, before returning to Abu Dhabi. PEDRO NUNES (REUTERS)
At 8:12 p.m., the vehicle entered the home of its host.
A multitude of journalists who have asked him about his condition were waiting for him.
From inside the vehicle, Juan Carlos I waved his hand and made a thumbs-up gesture indicating that he is fine. Álvaro Ballesteros (Europa Press)
In a conversation with journalists, before the arrival of Juan Carlos I, Campos assured that he is "very excited" and "very excited" to return to Spain after almost two years expatriated in the Persian Gulf.
“He is excited, very excited to return to Spain.
That is the main message that he has transferred to me.
Then he told me that he wants to see the crew [of the Rascal, the sailboat with which he won the 3mR class World Cup in 2019 in Finland].
According to Juan Carlos I's close friend, who last spoke with him on Wednesday, he knows "perfectly" that his return to Spain has generated "a lot of expectation." PEDRO NUNES (REUTERS)
In the midst of the dead calm, 20 minutes before Juan Carlos de Borbón landed, Mario and Jesús played tute at the table closest to the departure gate.
They are taxi drivers with a stop in Peinador.
The two shook their heads in unison when asked what they thought of the king emeritus returning to Spain: "Well, well."
The youngest, Jesús, spoke in Galician: “He has to come back, and he should never have left.
This country is in his debt.
He took the dictatorship, held it in his hands, and gave us a democracy.
Without there being a war, without shooting.
I am delighted that he returns to Spain and proud that he is in Galicia, I hope he stays here.
There is very little memory.
to two tables,
Emilio and Raquel had returned from Vigo to the airport (they had flown the day before to Galicia from Madrid) to file a claim for the loss of a suitcase.
They had a coffee.
Emilio, a law graduate, was pleased with the return of Juan Carlos de Borbón.
“He is not accused of anything or pending any trial.
If things with justice are fine, why isn't he going to come back?
He is in the right of it,” he says.
He avoided personal assessments: "I stick to what justice says, and justice has spoken."
Raquel, next to her, missed a greater knowledge of the Constitution.
“It should be a compulsory subject for kids.
You have to know it, and when you know it, give your opinion about it.
But in this country everyone is giving their opinion on issues that they have not studied.”
They had a coffee.
Emilio, a law graduate, was pleased with the return of Juan Carlos de Borbón.
“He is not accused of anything or pending any trial.
If things with justice are fine, why isn't he going to come back?
It's in his right,” he says.
He avoided personal assessments: "I stick to what justice says, and justice has spoken."
Raquel, next to her, missed a greater knowledge of the Constitution.
“It should be a compulsory subject for kids.
You have to know it, and when you know it, give your opinion about it.
But in this country, everyone is giving their opinion on issues that he has not studied”.
They had a coffee.
Emilio, a law graduate, was pleased with the return of Juan Carlos de Borbón.
“He is not accused of anything or pending any trial.
If things with justice are fine, why isn't he going to come back?
It's in his right,” he says.
He avoided personal assessments: "I stick to what justice says, and justice has spoken."
Raquel, next to her, missed a greater knowledge of the Constitution.
“It should be a compulsory subject for kids.
You have to know it, and when you know it, give your opinion about it.
But in this country, everyone is giving their opinion on issues that he has not studied”.
why won't he come back?
She is in her right,” she says.
She avoided personal assessments: "I stick to what justice says, and justice has spoken."
Raquel, next to her, missed a greater knowledge of the Constitution.
“It should be a compulsory subject for kids.
You have to know it, and when you know it, give your opinion about it.
But in this country everyone is giving their opinion on issues that they have not studied.”
why won't he come back?
She is in her right,” she says.
She avoided personal assessments: "I stick to what justice says, and justice has spoken."
Raquel, next to her, missed a greater knowledge of the Constitution.
“It should be a compulsory subject for kids.
You have to know it, and when you know it, give your opinion about it.
But in this country everyone is giving their opinion on issues that they have not studied.”
Juan Carlos I is alone in Abu Dhabi.
He talks a lot on the phone, especially with Campos, but also with journalist friends like Fernando Ónega, who gave the exclusive on his return, Raúl del Pozo or Carlos Herrera.
Follow the sailing competitions, sometimes by
streaming
, and then shares his technical comments with the crew through Campos.
He transmits them to the team, referring to Juan Carlos de Borbón as "SM" (His Majesty).
It was planned that there would be a welcome dinner with the sailors on Thursday night at the house of Pedro Campos —together with the Infanta Elena, who arrived in Vigo in the morning on a regular flight— and that this Friday the king emeritus will travel to the Náutico de Sanxenxo around noon.
It is difficult for him to go out to haggle because a lot of wind is expected, but perhaps throughout the weekend, if the weather subsides, Juan Carlos de Borbón will cheer up.
At least that's what they say among the crew of the
Rogue
captained by Campos and participating in the InterRías regatta of the 2022 Spanish Cup. "He looks very lonely, and very tired," said someone who was able to see him up close and talk to his Galician friends.
"Perhaps the sea and his friends will change his mood," explains this source for whom the circumstances of the public behavior of the Bourbon citizen, and the facts proven in the different accusations dismissed from him, are vetoed.
“That is no longer relevant, it has already passed.”
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