King Juan Carlos has surprised his son and successor, King Felipe, with an unexpected public statement about him on an historic day for Spain.
The country is reflecting on the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the fascist dictator, Francisco Franco, and the restoration of the monarchy.
A series of public events are planned to mark half a century of new Borbon rule but Juan Carlos, the king who brought back the monarchy and who helped establish democracy before a spectacular fall from grace, hasn’t been invited to any of them.
Instead, Felipe VI has asked him to come to a private lunch that will be held at the end of the events marking the half century.
It’s been reported that King Juan Carlos is unhappy with that and so his decision to release a public statement on the anniversary of Franco’s death, November 20, caused some debate.
The message was read at an event being attended by the eldest daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. Infanta Elena, their first born child, didn’t succeed to the throne as Spain has male primogeniture, meaning younger brothers outrank older sisters.
Elena has been particularly loyal to Juan Carlos who now lives in Abu Dhabi after choosing self appointed exile when the scandals around his private life and finances threatened to overwhelm the Spanish monarchy in 2020.
At the event, called ‘The King and the Transition: 50 years since his Proclamation”, Elena joined a host of well known Spanish personalities. The message was read to them and King Juan Carlos urged all taking part to ”support my son, King Felipe, in this difficult role”.
The message had mostly been thanks for the support he himself had received. King Juan Carlos said ”I want to sent my warmest greetings to all those who are there today and those who have given me their support for 50 years.”
He described the restoration of the Spanish monarchy, which happened because Franco had designated Juan Carlos as his successor, as ”difficult”, a word he also used to describe the Transition, the name given to the time when Spain was moving from the totalitarian state of Franco to the democracy it is today.
And he ended with his call for all to give the ”same support’ to Felipe VI.
On November 21, King Felipe will be joined by Queen Letizia and their daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia, for a special ceremony in which Spain’s highest honour, the Toison d’Or, will be presented to a number of people including Queen Sofia of Spain. Juan Carlos is not invited and it’s not known whether Queen Sofia’s daughters, Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina, have been asked to witness this special moment. Elena and Cristina have six grown up children between them but their presence isn’t confirmed either.
