The great works of literature always have something universal and imperishable and that often makes them disturbingly premonitory.
William Shakespeare may have thought something like this when, according to the theories of some historians and experts, he was part of the English delegation that in 1605 traveled to Castilian lands to sign peace between Philip III and James I. The Bard of Avon would have set foot in Valladolid right the same year in which he premiered
King Lear,
a play that tells an intricate story in which the king of Brittany divides his kingdom between his three daughters during his lifetime.
Cordelia, her youngest offspring, refuses to flatter her parent and he, in retaliation, disinherits her.
Finally, the wayward daughter will find affection in the king of France, while her sisters, who enjoyed the anticipated inheritance, will end up rising up against her father.
The story of the father betrayed by his children resonates in the Spanish monarchy as if the ghost of King Lear had stayed to live in Valladolid.
Felipe IV dedicated himself to dismantling the network of corruption woven during the reign of his father;
Charles II gave in and lost many of the territories that his mother had treasured;
Alfonso XII married the daughter of one of his mother's great enemies and reigned, accepting the exile of Isabel II;
Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg defied Alfonso XIII and renounced the throne so he could marry a “commoner”;
and Juan Carlos I became king without Don Juan's approval.
And so we come to the times of Felipe VI, who had to deal with his paternal exile, apparently voluntary but unwanted in private by the Royal Family and the emeritus.
Juan Carlos I lives his exile in Nurai, a private Dubai island in the middle of the Persian Gulf.
There are 32 luxury villas on the island
Juan Carlos I lives his exile in Nurai, a private Dubai island in the middle of the Persian Gulf.
On the island there are 32 luxury villas, a
world-class
spa , five international restaurants and a beach club, but not a single bookstore or library.
However, the royal environment ensures that the king emeritus reads a lot and that he examines all the stories that talk about him.
So you are probably aware that, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of his abdication, Spanish bookstores are packed with books about his rise and fall.
You will inherit my kingdom.
From the collapse of Juan Carlos I to the uncertainty of Leonor
(Ediciones B), by David López Canales, recounts the episodes that led the former head of state to exile;
Everyone knew it.
Juan Carlos I and the complicit silence of power
(La Esfera de los Libros), by José García Abad, tries to explain how the monarch could act for so long with impunity and with the alleged complicity of the powers of the State;
Juan Carlos I, the king in the desert
(The Sphere of Books), by Alejandro Entrambasaguas, narrates with benevolence and courtesy what his daily life is like in his golden exile, and
King Corp. The untold empire of Juan Carlos I
(Libros del KO), by José María Olmo and David Fernández, reviews all the evidence, indications and accusations—some proven, others not—about the money routes of the monarch's immense economic conglomerate.
Image of the wedding of Prince Juan Carlos and Sofia of Greece in Athens, on May 14, 1962. AFP / GETTY IMAGES
The life of King Juan Carlos continues to be an inexhaustible source of biographies, essays and analysis.
Because?
The answer could lie in the works of William Shakespeare.
The exploits and villainies of the emeritus king have the elements of a Shakespearean tragedy, the force of an Elizabethan drama that we never tire of telling, reading and rereading: a prince without a crown who sacrifices everything (including his own father) to reign. and who, blinded by greed, ends up losing the throne and spends the last years of his life wandering in the desert.
“There is a phrase from Shakespeare that summarizes what happened very well: 'The crown has devoured him who wears it';
and another that tells what happens: 'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,' reflects David López in
You will inherit my kingdom,
making a parallel between Juan Carlos I and Enrique IV, but also between Felipe VI and Shakespeare's Henry V, two princes who, after being crowned, realize that their new suit, majesty, does not suit them as well as they thought.
The similarities between the life of the king emeritus and Shakespeare's work go beyond
Henry VI
or
King Lear.
Greed and corruption, fundamental elements in the tragedy of
Macbeth,
are also very present in the life trajectory of Juan Carlos Borbón.
When the character Malcolm describes the many vices that invalidate him as king, Macduff explains to him that the ruler must not be a saint, but rather an intelligent person with the ability to hide his sins.
“Unbridled intemperance is the tyrant of life (…) but do not be afraid to take what is yours: in secret you can give free rein to pleasures, appearing chaste and thus deceiving the world (…) Greed takes deep root and grows with deeper roots perverse than lust.
But fear not: Scotland is lavish with resources that will satisfy your desire, and only in your own lands,” Macduff tells the sovereign in his speech, a defense of corruption.
The emeritus king, like Shakespeare's Malcolm, had many Macduffs in his court, advisors who for almost 40 years were in charge of hiding his vices and corruption.
The emeritus king, like Shakespeare's Malcolm, had many Macduffs in his court, advisors who for almost 40 years were in charge of hiding his vices and corruption.
“In the Transition the king began to surround himself with new rich people and businessmen who had real money.
Then he loses interest in the old aristocracy of Francoism.
The counts or marquises had many palaces and tapestries, but not enough
cash
to take a private plane and go to Paris for a weekend.
“
He feels the need to be the leader of that new society,” explains José María Olmo, co-author of
King Corp.
Olmo and Fernández's work investigates how the head of state would have amassed his personal fortune by closing deals between the Spanish State and private companies and foreign governments: from his first oil agreements with the monarchies of the Persian Gulf, at the end of the 1970s. , to the credit cards paid for by a Mexican millionaire and the eight million euros in private flights paid for by an opaque foundation.
“Following Juan Carlos's money is like following the tracks left by a lion in the jungle.
They give us information about what he was like, a king who not only wanted to be one but also appear to be one, a man with an enormous voracity to travel, spend money and have women,” the journalist continues.
Laurence Debray, official biographer of the emeritus, is more benevolent.
“Values have changed over time in Spain and in the world, but the king is someone who has not lied about his personality.
He never hid that he liked women and people who did business.
In the eighties that didn't bother me,” said the French writer in 2022, during the promotion of her book
My Fallen King
.
King Juan Carlos and his son, Prince Felipe, in a tennis match in 1977. Daniel Gluckman (Getty Images)
Shakespeare said in his
Winter's Tale
that authority is a stubborn bear that is often led by the nose with gold.
Something similar would have happened with the first king of democracy.
He “understood that he was making a lot of people a lot of money and he didn't accept that he didn't get his share.
He felt that he deserved a percentage, a commission or a benefit for every move he made to favor Spain or a specific company.
And everyone knew it was like that.
It was a good business for everyone,” says Olmo.
"That's why his friends started calling him 'the boss.'
And no one dared to bend the boss.
Rather the other way around.
Everyone wanted to make him happier.
“It was convenient for them to be happy because that brought them more money.”
In
Everyone Knew it,
José García Abad delves into the Shakespearean greed of the king and the complicit silence of the other powers.
“The press, the judiciary, the politicians, the intelligence service…, all played a role of complicity during the Juan Carlos reign.
Nobody exercised real control over his power.
Several presidents of the Government acknowledged to me that they were aware of what was happening and that they had looked the other way.
No one dared to tell him that what he was doing was wrong… They only did it at the end of his reign,” García Abad laments.
José María Olmo agrees.
“The king had 3,000 CNI agents at his service whose priority was to protect his secrets and irregularities.
Neither Elon Musk nor Bill Gates have a security department of 3,000 people,” says the author of
King Corp.
“But one does not allow himself to be corrupted if he is not corrupt,” says David López.
“Many allowed him to do whatever he wanted, but in the end he is the only one responsible for what he did.”
Signing of the abdication of King Juan Carlos, on June 18, 2014. Alberto Martin (Getty Images)
The excesses of Juan Carlos I were his downfall and led him to lose the throne that had cost him so much to achieve.
Then came exile, Romeo Montague's worst nightmare.
“Exile scares me more than death.
"Don't talk to me about exile," says the protagonist of the tragedy to Friar Lawrence after being sentenced to exile for ending the life of Tybalt Capulet.
“He orders you to leave Verona;
but do not worry;
“The world is very wide,” replies the Franciscan friar, his advisor.
“Outside Verona there is no world, but purgatory, hell and despair.
Exiling myself from Verona is like exiling myself from Earth.
I don't care if you say death or exile.
I beg you to chop off my head with a golden axe, and then laugh at the mortal blow,” Shakespeare's Romeo pleads.
The journey of the emeritus king through the Dubai desert has opened an almost imperceptible crack in the family portrait of the Bourbons.
Now there is a royal family determined to show decorum and simplicity and a king's family that commits excesses and celebrates birthday parties in Abu Dhabi to the rhythm of the
Macarena
.
There is a young king who speaks of exemplary and transparency and an old king who is not very exemplary and opaque who feels that his people have failed him.
“More than offended, he feels betrayed,” says Olmo.
“The relationship between father and son is very complicated.
Felipe VI has had to take strong measures against Juan Carlos, such as removing his official assignment or kicking him out of the Zarzuela palace.
This struggle between personal affections and political necessity has to be heartbreaking for both.
The son has to kill the father to save the Monarchy.
How can the father not feel betrayed?
It is a paradox, a Greek tragedy,” explains García Abad, recalling the words of Shakespeare's King Lear: “Much sharper than the tooth of a viper is the ingratitude of a child.”
The king emeritus and his daughter Elena during the celebration of the infanta's 60th birthday, on December 20, 2023. Carlos Alvarez (GC Images / GETTY IMAGES)
And now?
What act of Juan Carlos I's work are we in?
"On the break.
We have seen his collapse, his transition from great hero of the Transition to the greatest threat to the Crown.
But it remains to be seen what happens in the coming years, how deep the wound he has caused is and how long his shadow is in the reign of Felipe VI,” responds David López.
“I am your father's soul destined for a certain time to wander at night and imprisoned in fire during the day, until its flames purify the sins I committed in the world,” said the ghost of King Hamlet to his son.
The “ghost” of Juan Carlos I also seems to haunt his successor.
“It was very difficult for Felipe VI not to know what was happening.
Everyone participated in some way.
Now, that haunts them,” says García Abad, who in his book addresses this thorny issue in a chapter titled 'Felipe, who jealously administered the figure of the king, he knew everything.'
The ghost of King Hamlet appeared asking for revenge.
King Juan Carlos walks through Abu Dhabi aboard a private jet and a huge white Cadillac SUV demanding that his honor be restored
The ghost of King Hamlet appeared asking for revenge.
That of King Juan Carlos walks through Abu Dhabi aboard a private
jet
and a huge white Cadillac SUV demanding that his honor be restored.
Do you recognize that he has done something wrong?
Do you feel his exile as a punishment?
Is his family really fractured?
“They are very personal questions and only the king has answers,” says Laurence Debray, who withdraws from participating in this report.
In 2022, the writer stated that the monarch is very aware that he made mistakes.
“He is not stupid and he has realized that everything went wrong.
He does not live in another world,” she acknowledged.
García Abad has another point of view.
“He always thought that he could do whatever he wanted, that everything he had done for Spain gave him carte blanche.
This was the case before the Constitution, before the first democratic elections, when he wrote to the Shah of Persia asking for money to, supposedly, safeguard the Monarchy and democratic stability,” explains the journalist.
The author of
Todos lo Knob
concludes that King Juan Carlos does not seem to be sorry for his mistakes.
“He shows no remorse.”
King Lear felt no guilt either.
“This is the excellent deception of the world,” said Shakespeare in his tragedy of 1605, the year in which he could have set foot in Spain.
“That when we are sick with fortune, often the excess of our own behavior, we make the sun, the moon and the stars guilty of our disasters: as if we were villains by necessity;
fools by heavenly compulsion;
scoundrels, thieves and traitors by spherical predominance;
drunks, liars and adulterers for a forced obedience of planetary influence…”
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