Juan Carlos I prepares his trip to London without passing through Madrid to attend the funeral of Elizabeth II

The emeritus king plans to travel directly to London to attend the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II of England next Monday, according to sources close to him.

Juan Carlos I has ruled out going through Madrid first to join the State delegation that will include Kings Felipe VI and Letizia, Queen Sofía and the head of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares.

The presence of the emeritus king in Madrid was a headache for the Government, since the former expressly renounced spending the night in La Zarzuela during his stays in Spain and using official means, such as the Air Force Falcon plane that is used for these official trips.

Juan Carlos I has also confirmed businessmen and friends from his immediate environment, who have visited him during these years in Abu Dhabi and with whom he has spoken after the death of Elizabeth II, that he has already organized the trip to London on his own to participate in state funerals.

The emeritus king has specified that he even has round-trip tickets to the British capital on a commercial flight from the United Arab Emirates (USA), where he has been an expatriate since August 2020, and that therefore, he does not plan to go through Madrid to join the delegation headed by his son, the current head of state.

It is not ruled out, however, that he could finally travel on the

private used by members of the Emirati royal house to attend funerals.

The emeritus king is the guest of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayeb, who last May assumed the presidency of this Persian Gulf country.

The previous monarch has commented to those businessmen and friends that he will remain in London just 24 hours before returning to Abu Dhabi, just enough to participate in the funeral, scheduled for twelve noon (Spanish peninsular time) next Monday 19. Not yet It is clear if there will be an image of Felipe VI with his father, since it is not known if the British protocol will group the members of the different delegations or will place the current heads of state in the first rows, postponing those who no longer exercise. said function.

La Zarzuela has limited itself to pointing out that it will adapt to the provisions of the organizers of the ceremony.

What is taken for granted is that King Juan Carlos will be placed next to his wife, Queen Sofía, who returns from a trip to the United States on Saturday.

The Government has not hidden its discomfort at the presence of Juan Carlos I in the delegation that will attend the funeral for Elizabeth II, but has had no choice but to accept it.

Unlike on other occasions, it has not been the Executive that has chosen the members of the delegation, but rather the British royal house has sent personal and non-transferable invitations to Kings Felipe and Letizia and the emeritus Juan Carlos and Sofía.

The invitation to Juan Carlos I is not only due to his kinship with the House of Windsor (he and Queen Sofía are great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria of England), but also to the "particular and close" relationship he had with Elizabeth II, according to your environment.

The emeritus king has reminded some of his interlocutors these days that last spring Queen Elizabeth II, who spent long periods at Balmoral Castle after the death of her husband, sent him a personal invitation to visit her at her residence in Scotland.

Juan Carlos I, add the same sources, then declined the offer with the argument that he would only leave Abu Dhabi to return to Spain, as he did at the end of May with his controversial visit to Sanxenxo (Pontevedra) to participate in some regattas.

Although it has been speculated that Felipe VI did not want his father to attend the funeral of the British monarch either, the King's House itself made public on Monday that it had transferred to the emeritus kings the invitation issued the day before by the Foreign Office through from the Spanish Embassy in London and was awaiting your reply.

In reality, according to sources close to him, Juan Carlos I had already transmitted his intention to attend the state funeral directly to the British royal house before communicating his response to La Zarzuela.

The fact that the monarch emeritus revealed the existence of the invitation to the journalist Carlos Herrera and he made it public through the Cope chain further limited the House of the King's room for manoeuvre.

As on other occasions, all the points related to the presence of Juan Carlos I at the state funeral have been dealt with through intermediaries, without a direct conversation between Felipe VI and his father, although the sources consulted do not rule out that this has been produced later.

Beyond its discomfort, the Government has transferred all responsibility for the decision to La Zarzuela and has limited itself to appointing the day minister who will accompany Felipe VI, the Foreign Minister.

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