It was time for a reunion between Juan Carlos and members of the Spanish royal family in recent days. After 21 months of exile in the United Arab Emirates for the former Sovereign of the country, the latter has finally returned to his land. The 84-year-old man landed in a private jet on Thursday May 19 to attend a regatta, see his friends and visit his family, his son Felipe VI and his wife Sofia, after almost two years of absence.
This Monday, May 23 in the early morning, Juan Carlos arrived by car in front of the Zarzuela Palace where the royal family is staying, “an interview presented as private by the palace“announced AFP. Juan Carlos was therefore able to exchange and see his relatives, among whom Felipe VI and Sofia, the wife from whom he is separated but not divorced, after a very long absence and a scandal that forever stained the The reputation of the royal family.The backstage of this reunion has not been revealed, but the atmosphere was undoubtedly far from being as warm as it was a few years ago.
This brief visit to Spain comes after the Spanish justice dismissed in March the investigations which targeted him, relating to suspicions of corruption and money laundering. The prosecution then indicated that it could not prosecute the former monarch “due to the lack of incriminating evidence, the statute of limitations and the immunity” from which he benefited as head of state until his abdication in 2014 against a backdrop of scandals. The prosecutors had however put forward the “tax irregularities“of which he was guilty.
Honor is not excepted for all that. King Felipe VI has also struggled to regain the confidence of the Spaniards and save the family from these serious mistakes. Trying to restore the image of the Spanish monarchy since his accession to the throne in 2014, Felipe VI has distanced himself in recent years from his father. He had thus decided in March 2020 to renounce the inheritance of Juan Carlos and to withdraw his annual allowance of nearly 200,000 euros. More recently, he launched at the end of April, with the government, an operation “transparency“for the royal palace which will now have to have its accounts audited, make its contracts public or draw up an inventory of the gifts received by the royal family.