King Juan Carlos appears to have taken a swipe at his daughter in law, Queen Letizia, in his new book.
It’s long been rumoured that relations between the two were strained, even before his abdication and later self imposed exile.
Now, the former monarch appears to confirm that with comments about Letizia.
As he began interviews with the French press to promote his memoirs, Reconciliation, King Juan Carlos’ feelings about the Queen of Spain were in the spotlight.
He said that Letizia ”didn’t help cohesion in our family relationships” and added that there was a ”personal disagreement” between him and his daughter in law.
It’s long been speculated that Letizia and Juan Carlos didn’t see eye to eye. There was increasingly little interaction between them in their rare joint appearances before the former monarch left Spain.
However, this is the first overt comment from either about their relationship with one another.
King Juan Carlos has written a memoir as he said he felt his story had been taken from him and he wanted to put his own perspective across.
The book was already controversial before it had even been published. Juan Carlos himself said his own father had told him that kings didn’t tell but he felt compelled to write down his version of events.
The memoirs come out in France on November 5 before publication in Spain in the early days of December. As the book headed to shops, Juan Carlos spoke to several newspapers to publicise his book.
Among the revelations that have come out in the early look at the memoirs is that Juan Carlos didn’t tell his son, King Felipe VI, where he was going when he decided to take self imposed exile in 2020. Instead, the King of Spain rang his father as he was already on his way and asked him ”where are you going, boss?”
He also said that he still wanted to come back to Spain to live and to have a harmonious relationship with his son.
King Juan Carlos was reported to be on his way back to Spain as the headlines about his memoir hit.
Meanwhile, King Felipe and Queen Letizia were attending an official memorial service for those who died in the torrential rain and flooding that hit Valencia in October 2024.
