Réconciliation is the title of the memoirs of Juan Carlos I arriving on Wednesday, November 5th in French bookstores, preceding the Spanish edition and coinciding with the trip of the emeritus king to Sanxenxo to participate in the regattas. Promoted by Stock as the "editorial phenomenon of the autumn," the 512-page book has been met with mixed opinions in France, seen more as an attempt at "self-rehabilitation" of his image rather than "a critical and comprehensive look" at his 39-year reign.
Co-written with journalist and historian Laurence Debray - author of My Fallen King, Réconciliation reviews Juan Carlos' life in seven lengthy chapters with titles as significant as A Chaotic Youth, I Changed Spain, Despite Everything, My Renunciations, or In the Solitude of the Desert.
From his first exile in childhood in Lisbon to the second "exile" on the island of Nurai off Abu Dhabi, through the safari in Botswana and the "three shots" of February 23rd, Juan Carlos I looks back with moments of regret but guided mainly by a desire for personal revenge: "I feel like my story has been stolen from me."
These are some excerpts from the book that will arrive in Spain on December 3rd, published by the Planeta publishing house.
Relations with Franco
"Franco made me king to create a more open regime," writes Juan Carlos I, quite lenient in recalling his "personal and frequent relationships" with the Caudillo since he officially designated him as his successor in 1969: "I respected him enormously, appreciated his intelligence and political sense. I never allowed anyone to criticize him in front of me." Far from questioning his rise to power and his 40 years of dictatorship, the emeritus king praises and even draws lessons from his predecessor: "No one was able to destabilize him, which in such a long period is a challenge.
Felipe
"My son turned his back on me out of duty," Juan Carlos acknowledges in his book. "I understand that as a king, he holds a public position and must be firm, but the truth is that it hurt to see him so insensitive." In particular, the emeritus king recalls a conversation they had during Christmas in 2020 where Felipe VI appeared "walled in silence of misunderstandings and pain." Nevertheless, he describes his son as "the best-prepared heir in Europe" and hopes to restore relations with him.
When he withdrew his annual allowance, he warned his son: "Don't forget that you inherit a political system that I forged. You can exclude me on a personal and financial level. But you cannot reject the institutional legacy on which you stand: there is only one step between the two."
Queen Letizia
The emeritus king acknowledges in his book the existence of "a personal discrepancy" with Queen Letizia, but does not go as far as admitting that he tried to dissuade his son against the marriage, nor does he acknowledge the incompatibility of characters. When speaking about his daughter-in-law, he admits briefly: "She did not help with the cohesion of our family relationships." According to Paris Match, Juan Carlos I is convinced that the "biting messages" occasionally sent by his son Felipe are instigated by Letizia, whom he also does not forgive for cutting ties between his granddaughters and their grandfather.
"Sofi"
He affectionately refers to Queen Sofia as "Sofi" throughout the book. Despite everything that has happened, he acknowledges that he still maintains telephone contact with her. He describes her as "an exceptional woman, full of a sense of justice, kindness, rigor, dedication, and benevolence." He even says, "She is the embodiment of the nobility of the soul," and adds, "Spain could not have had a more devoted and irreproachable queen. We are different, but we share the same sense of duty. There has been no one like her in my life, and it will remain so, even though our paths have diverged since I left Spain. She remains the mother of my children, a remarkable queen, and a fundamental and irreplaceable emotional attachment."
"Sentimental Deviations"
The emeritus king briefly touches on what he considers his "sentimental deviations" and does not delve into details about his extramarital relationships. He claims that most of the relationships attributed to him are "completely fictitious," and one in particular (without directly mentioning Corinna) was "cleverly manipulated."
Corinna
Juan Carlos I recalls the elephant hunt in Botswana in 2012 with Corinna Larsen as "a distant and expensive trip that may have seemed out of touch with the country's situation" (during one of its worst economic crises). Without naming her, he refers to that romance as "a mistake that I bitterly regret." To retaliate against his former lover, with whom he engaged in a legal battle over alleged harassment in British courts, he claims that ultimately, she was "an easy target in the manhunt."
The "gift"
Juan Carlos talks in his book about the "gift" of $100 million from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia - days after a bilateral agreement between the two governments and a conference in Madrid to improve the religious extremism image of the country - as "an act of lavishness from one monarchy to another." "It was a gift I could not refuse," he warns. By now, he perceives it as "a serious mistake, made with the idea of ensuring the needs of my family and to sustain my retirement, away from the Spanish official life." Regarding Felipe VI's decision to withdraw his annual pension of 161,000 euros as a former head of state, he says in the book: "I am the only Spaniard who does not have a retirement after almost forty years of service."
The abdication
Juan Carlos I recalls his distant cousin Isabel II, when she once told him, "A king never abdicates." He also remembers the phrase his father, Don Juan de Borbón, used to say: "A king dies with his boots on." "There were those who tried to dissuade me," he confesses. "But I was convinced that I was acting in the best interest of the country. And with a clear conscience of duty fulfilled (...) No legal action forced me to do it, but I decided to step aside to not hinder the proper functioning of the Crown or impede my son in the exercise of his duties as sovereign."
The "malicious entourage"
Recalling the nineties, Juan Carlos I inevitably remembers his relationships with the financiers Mario Conde and Javier de la Rosa and the first signs of corruption that tarnished his image. "I was blinded by a malicious entourage," he warns. "I had the weakness to trust the businessmen presented to me and to yield to what I now perceive as pressure." The former monarch admits to feeling "embroiled in a financial mess that overwhelmed me" and acknowledges being advised during his reign "by some unscrupulous businessmen who acted in my name, but mainly for their personal benefit."
February 23rd
"There were not one but three shots," Juan Carlos writes about February 23rd. "The coup by Tejero, by Armada, and by those close to Franco's regime. Alfonso Armada was by my side for 17 years. I loved him very much, and he betrayed me. He convinced the generals that he was speaking on my behalf. Another curious anecdote from the book is when he recalls how Felipe, who was thirteen at the time, asked him, "What happened, dad?" To explain it, he threw a ball against the ceiling and said, "The Crown is up in the air, and we don't know which way it will fall."
"The history of Spain was at stake in that precise moment," he warns regarding February 23rd, while praising his role in the face of the coup: "Never in my life have I demonstrated such authority." The emeritus king believes that half of the eleven captaincies general supported the rebellion "but they didn't dare disobey him as the constitutional king did."
The political class
"Democracy didn't fall from the sky," Juan Carlos I reminds us, emphasizing the differences between the current political class and the leaders he had to deal with: "I regret that a certain political spirit, which is called the 'spirit of the transition,' has been lost to the detriment of Spain and its interests. That was a time when the left, and especially the Communist Party, respected state institutions."
The monarchy
"I wake up with the country's problems and I go to bed with the country's problems," Juan Carlos I confesses, with an implicit message to his son. "Spain is not automatically a monarchy, nor has it had the tradition and continuity of the British monarchy or other European monarchies. It is up to the king to shape the monarchy every day."
The Death of Franco
One of the most curious anecdotes is what happened in the early hours of November 20, 1975, when the entire country was on tenterhooks awaiting Franco's death. "Sofi and I were watching television, and she suggested we stay awake until the fateful moment arrived. I preferred to go to sleep. Then, in the middle of the night, I received a call from General Juan Castañón de Mena, head of Franco's military household, to give me the news: 'What time are they expecting me?' he asked. 'At 8:30 in the morning,' he said. And I replied, 'Count me in, General.'
Lady Di
Mentions of Lady Di have already generated a great deal of discussion in the United Kingdom. Juan Carlos I denies having made sexual advances toward her during the summers they spent at Marivent Palace with their sons, William and Harry. The atmosphere was "less warm behind the palace gates," admits the former king, who describes Diana as "a cold, distant, and taciturn woman... when she wasn't facing the paparazzi."
The fight against ETA
The fight against ETA was "the hardest and most painful" of his reign, he warns. Juan Carlos I is referring to the "The ordeal inflicted by the terrorist group" and the "personal wound" caused by the 854 dead and 3,000 wounded by the terrorist group. "I knew that in the end we would be stronger than them, and that we would ultimately win that battle," he concludes.
Freedom
"I gave freedom to the Spanish people by establishing democracy," Juan Carlos asserts in another passage of the book. "Now that my son has turned his back on me out of duty, now that those who claimed to be friends have disappeared, I have realized that I have never been free."
Rider of Democracy
The democratic transition, he observes, was like "a horse set alight," and he himself considers himself "the rider who controlled it to prevent it from veering too far to the left or too far to the right, or from hitting an obstacle." The emeritus king praises the work of Adolfo Suárez, "who embodied the reform without rupture that he sought to achieve," and of Miguel Primo de Rivera, "the same one who took me to the disco," for having achieved "the support for political reform from many Francoist legislators."
The Legalization of the PCE
The legalization of the PCE was, in his opinion, "a crucial stage" in the transition, Juan Carlos notes. It was, curiously, the then Romanian president Nicolae Ceauescu who put him in contact with Santiago Carrillo, who used to spend his holidays in Romania. "My monarchy had to be inclusive and democratic to establish itself permanently in Spain. Without the PCE, that democracy would not be complete."
Return to Spain
In the book, Juan Carlos expresses his desire to "return to Spain, my home" and "be able to have a peaceful relationship." His purpose, he affirms, is "to resume a harmonious relationship with my son" and "to forge special bonds" with his granddaughters, Leonor and Sofía.