The first visit of Juan Carlos I to Spain since he expatriated in Abu Dhabi, almost two years ago, is proving to be a headache for the House of the King, which fears the damage that the behavior of the previous head of state may be causing to the image of the institution, according to government sources.
More information
Juan Carlos I continues to reign in Sanxenxo 22 years later
Felipe VI imposed on his father a single condition for his stay in Spain: that he not spend the night at the Palacio de la Zarzuela.
It was a demand from La Moncloa, which alleges that the palace is not only the residence of the Spanish Royal Family, but also the headquarters of the Head of State.
Don Juan Carlos has fulfilled this requirement but, in everything else, he has done his own will and the echo that his stay in the country is having is just the opposite of what La Zarzuela intended.
The House of the King did not want, as the Government requires, that the previous monarch offer explanations or apologize for the crimes he allegedly committed, according to the records of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office that filed the open proceedings because they were already prescribed, protected by immunity which he enjoyed as head of state or neutralized by the successive regularizations.
Instead, he did want the first visit to his homeland to be discreet and austere, justified by some motivation that society as a whole could understand and even empathize with, such as a medical check-up – Don Juan Carlos underwent an intervention in 2019 open heart in which three
bypasses
were implanted — or a family reunion.
Far from that, he has returned to attend some regattas, surrounded by his friends, hundreds of cameras and unconditional fans who have cheered and cheered him on.
The arrival of the king emeritus at Vigo airport has been broadcast live by several channels as if it were a historical event or a state visit, and the Royal Yacht Club has become the scene of a pilgrimage of onlookers and an improvised television set.
Two irreconcilable sides
The worst, however, for the future of the Monarchy is that the visit has divided the political parties into two irreconcilable factions, between those who excuse any illegal act that Don Juan Carlos may have committed under the umbrella of inviolability and those who disqualify the Crown for the personal behavior of its former owner.
For an institution that aspires to represent all Spaniards, there is no slope more dangerous than its identification with a part.
Nor is it understood that the first thing the king emeritus did after setting foot in Spain was not to appear at the Zarzuela to greet and place himself at the orders of Felipe VI.
Not only because he is the head of state, but also the head of the House of Bourbon and the Royal Family, of which Juan Carlos I is a part.
Far from that, he went directly to Sanxenxo and only on Monday, before returning to the Emirates, will he pass through the Zarzuela, according to the Casa del Rey in a statement.
The excuse that the Head of State has implicitly given to justify Juan Carlos I putting his nautical hobbies before the fulfillment of his institutional obligations is the absence of Queen Sofía, who this week was in Miami (United States), participating in the events commemorative of the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the globe, and does not return until this Sunday.
It would have cost nothing, however, to coordinate the agendas of the two emeritus kings.
No less worrying has been the fact that, with direct flights between Dubai and Madrid (both on Thursday, when he arrived, and on Monday, when he leaves), Juan Carlos I has preferred to travel by private
jet
.
It is an Aruba-flagged Gulfstream G-450 owned by an Angolan business jet charter company.
It has not been reported who has paid for that flight, whose cost amounts to tens of thousands of euros, but it represents a flagrant breach of the code of ethics of the Royal Family, which prohibits its members from accepting gifts "that exceed the usual, social or Courtesy".
The king emeritus already had to pay, in February 2021, 4.4 million to the Treasury to regularize precisely the flights on private planes financed by the Zagatka Foundation, which were considered payments in kind.
Now that question does not arise, since Juan Carlos I has tax residence in the United Arab Emirates (USA) and does not even pay taxes in Spain.
But the situation is no less serious, because then it was known that the flights were paid for by his cousin Álvaro de Orleans and now it is unknown who pays for them.
In reality, the life of the emeritus king in Abu Dhabi, as the guest of the emir Mohamed bin Zayed, comes up against the principles of exemplary character and probity that Felipe VI has wanted to impose from the beginning of his reign in the Royal Family, whose member oldest is Juan Carlos I.
The sources consulted believe that the emeritus king is not aware of the damage that his conduct does to the image of the Crown.
At 84 years old, government sources point out, he sometimes behaves like a capricious teenager.
He is unaware that he has done wrong and feels that he has been treated unfairly, a feeling fueled by those who present themselves as his friends.
Sources close to the king emeritus allege, on the other hand, that he has done "what he was told" (after three-way negotiations between Zarzuela, Moncloa and Juan Carlos I) and that the expectation generated by his presence in Sanxenxo is something that it could easily have been foreseen in advance.
In the Casa del Rey they seem to have assumed that Don Juan Carlos is “out of control”, according to government sources, and they limit themselves to keeping their distance.
They have already warned that Monday's meeting in La Zarzuela with Felipe VI and Queen Sofía (which it is not known if her daughter-in-law, Queen Letizia, and her granddaughter, Infanta Sofía, will attend) is strictly private.
It does not appear on the public agenda of the King's House and no news coverage has been announced, but no official act of the King has aroused such expectation in a long time.
It is said of the former presidents of the Government that they are like Chinese vases: nobody knows where to put them so that they do not get in the way or break.
But the former head of state is not sitting still in a corner: in less than a month, from June 10 to 19, he plans to return to Sanxenxo for the world cup in his sailing category.
