A discreet return to his country of origin. Aged 85, Juan Carlos landed on Spanish soil in the early afternoon. According to witnesses, the former king slowly got off the private jet that dropped him off at Vigo-Peinador International Airport in northwestern Spain.
Dressed in a navy blue blazer, the visibly weakened former ruler then drove to the Galician city of Sanxenxo. The former king had left the country after revelations about his lavish lifestyle and suspicions of corruption and money laundering. The investigation had been closed in March 2022 by the Spanish justice in particular because of the prescription of the facts, but the prosecutors had however highlighted "tax irregularities".
Hoy es un día grande para España. Echenique se larga de la política y Don Juan Carlos regresa a su país. Bienvenido, Majestad. pic.twitter.com/oOBUwI3M8j
— Vito Quiles 🇪🇸 (@vitoquiles) July 26, 2023
A more discreet visit
According to the Spanish media Publico, the king emeritus must spend ten days in this port city to which he had already visited during his two previous visits, in May 2022 and last April. This is where the sailboat "le Bribon" is located, with which he was crowned world champion in the past. According to another Spanish source, the king could participate in a regatta there next weekend.
If his first stay in 2022 had triggered a controversy because of the lack of discretion he had shown, causing the exasperation of the royal palace according to the Spanish press, the second was much more sober: the one who reigned for nearly 40 years over Spain was then content to greet the crowd from his car.
A complicated context for Spain
Juan Carlos returns to Spain three days after the early general elections on July 23 that failed to secure a majority in parliament, plunging the country into a period of uncertainty, with the specter of new elections in a few months.
The socialists of the PSOE party (31.7% of the vote) had created a surprise by resisting the Spanish People's Party (PP), the right-wing opposition group (33.05%), which was widely announced winner by all the polls in the country. Finally the Vox group, a far right party, came third in terms of the percentage of votes obtained (12.39%).