After spending six days in Spain, Juan Carlos I is already flying in his private plane to Abu Dhabi. That is the destination of the device, according to sources familiar with the route of the emeritus. This has been the second visit to his country since August 2020, when he decided to go into self-exile in the United Arab Emirates, to try to mitigate the impact on the Crown of the news about his hidden fortune. The private plane took off at a quarter past eleven from the Vitoria-Gasteiz airport, where it arrived on Sunday for a medical examination.
Last Monday the 17th, Juan Carlos I left Abu Dhabi for London (United Kingdom), where he spent two days before arriving in Sanxenxo (Pontevedra), to train with the crew of the ‘Rascal’, and then jump to Vitoria.
In the British capital, he was with friends and went to football, to see Real Madrid-Chelsea. In the end, he did not have lunch with Carlos III, something that he told his friends would happen. La Zarzuela, this Tuesday, has once again insisted that there was no contact between the King of England and the emeritus. According to official sources, the British ambassador telephoned the head of the House, Jaime Alfonsinto tell him that they had not seen each other.
In Sanxenxo, he has stayed at the house of his friend Pedro Campos, as he did on his first trip to Spain, in May 2022, and has gone sailing for several days.
Speechless
The friends of the emeritus, that “environment” that he has used during these almost three years to communicate his movements and his wishes, have been very discreet on this occasion. Neither Juan Carlos I has broadcast his activities in Spain to them nor have they spoken as much with journalists as they used to do. The former head of state has tried keep a low profile, something the King’s House desired. Nothing to do with the first visit last year, when he posed for journalists and tried to answer his concerns. Also the one in which a reporter asked him if he was going to give “explanations” and he answered “explanations of what?”
little contact
For Zarzuela, Juan Carlos I continues to be his main problem. His self-exile was agreed between father and son and also with the Government of Pedro Sánchez, but his visits are a distorting element for Felipe VI. The personal relationship between the two is scarce and bad. According to sources close to the emeritus, they speak for very special occasions, such as family birthdays, and little else. The head of state found out about this second trip, for example, through the press, as the Casa del Rey has been in charge of emphasizing to show the discomfort with the visit.
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Their last two meetings have been due to funerals. In that of Elizabeth II, last September, and that of King Constantine of Greece, in January of this year.
The Government, meanwhile, has welcomed the visit of Juan Carlos I with a huge distance, reports Juan Ruiz Sierra. Little to say on the part of Moncloa. Last year, after what was the former head of state’s first trip back to Spain, the spokesperson for the Executive, Isabel Rodríguez, pointed out that the emeritus had “lost an opportunity to explain and apologize.” This Tuesday, however, Rodríguez has avoided sending the same message. The visit, she has explained her, had a “private character & rdquor ;. On the need for apologies, “nothing to expand & rdquor ;.