Sitting in the living room of his residence in Abu Dhabi, the king emeritus Juan Carlos I receives journalists from the French public broadcaster France 3 to break his silence and grant his first interview in yearsin which he assures that he does not regret his past and does not have regrets or tries to “not have them”, although if he could go back he would be more careful. “Those who read the book will see that I speak from the heart,” he says in reference to his book ‘Reconciliation’, published in France on November 5.
Time and exile have taken their toll on him. It is perceived in his eyes and in his voice when he talks about Spainto which he plans to return in a matter of years or less, “depending on the situation.” During the conversation, he also does not hide the feeling of soledaddespite maintaining the telephone contact with Felipe VI: “As a father, I would like to see him more, and more often with his daughters; with Princess Leonor and Princess Sofia. And as a king, I think he is a good king, but he is going through a very difficult time,” he says, although he clarifies that his feeling of abandonment It is more “philosophical” than real.
At 87 years old, his memory remains intact. Remember the first time you met dictator Francisco Franco at just 9 years old. During that time he felt like “a ping-pong ball” between his father and the dictator, until he was appointed heir to the throne: “When they named me heir, and my idea was democracyI felt it was really necessary to prepare for the future. Stay calm while waiting for that moment. It wasn’t easy because there were a lot of people asking questions and demanding things. But I think at that moment, we had to accept what was happening. And I had to accept things as they came.”
In his meeting with the journalist Stéphane Bern, the emeritus offers unpublished revelations, such as his meeting with Augusto Pinochet on the day of his accession to the throne: “I didn’t mention it in the book, but I had to go to the airport to receive Pinochet, because Franco couldn’t go. In the car, he told me: ‘Your Highness, you must do exactly the same as Franco,'” but the Bourbon did just the opposite, because it was “what the Spanish really wanted.”
Juan Carlos remembers his last days with the dictator, who surprisingly encouraged him to do what he “could not do”, and say on his trips abroad what he “it couldn’t be said in Spain”. “He understood very well what the future of the country was going to be. The proof of this is that the day before he died, he took my hand and said to me: ‘Your Highness, the only thing I ask of you is maintain the unity of Spain'”.
“Men make mistakes”
Regarding his different scandals, Juan Carlos acknowledges that he tries not to have “neither repentance nor remorse”but admits that, as all men “make mistakes”, although if I could go back I would be more careful.
The journalist Bern reminds him that a king is always under scrutiny, which leads the emeritus to share some advice that his father gave him: “I remember a phrase that my father told me: ‘Juanito, even in the bathroom we see you’. When I grew up, I understood what he meant.”
During his last years as king, accusations of corruptionof foreign accounts and opaque funds, in addition to love scandals, and a controversial hunting trip to Botswana in the midst of the crisis in Spain. A series of “errors” that took their toll on the monarchy and They forced him to abdicate in 2014.
“One reason is the physical or political abdication that I made. The other is the mentality that a king must have. I believe that a king must be physically strong, be physically prepared. I cannot imagine, especially in Spain, a king with crutches, with hip problems like mine,” he explains and underlines that the decision to abandon the throne and Spain in favor of his son Felipe VI was based on a question of “letting Felipe be free”, because if he had been there, Juan Carlos I would have been “an obstacle”.
‘Reconciliation’, on December 3 in Spain
The long-awaited memoirs of the king emeritus will go on sale in Spain next December 3after having been previously published in France.
Juan Carlos has always shown a special attachment to the French country, a place where he has always been treated with great respect. During the interview he humorously recalls an anecdote at an event with the president of the SEGA Assembly: “At an event with the president, the drums started playing. So I said to him: ‘Hey, does this remind you of anything?’ And he said: ‘It reminds me of when they cut your head off.’ We laughed a lot.”
Regarding the title, ‘Reconciliation’, the monarch confesses that he wanted to call it that because, after the dictatorship, what happened in Spain “was really a reconciliation with all the parties and all the people on the left and the right.” A reconciliation that was reflected in the Spanish Constitution and of which The emeritus proudly feels like “the father”.
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