King Juan Carlos, who abdicated and secretly left Spain in 2020, has visited his family in Madrid for the first time after almost two years. He spent 11 hours at the Zarzuela Palace in the north of the Spanish capital, Spanish media reported.
There Juan Carlos saw his son, King Felipe VI, and his wife Sofia. The palace spoke in an official statement about a “private family gathering”.
Juan Carlos (84) had left at the beginning of August 2020. He voluntarily went to exile in the United Arab Emirates after being discredited over unclear financial transactions. He said he had come back to Spain to “normalize everything”. He plans to visit Spain again in a few weeks and hopes it will attract less attention from politicians and media.
The closed four-day visit would have been arranged with difficulty and through long negotiations, according to Spanish media. It also created tensions between the former king and his son Felipe and between the government and the royal family. On Sunday, an estimated 300 people protested in Madrid against Juan Carlos’ visit, clamoring for him to be prosecuted.
Juan Carlos ruled Spain from 1975 to 2014. He officially retired as head of state for health reasons, but he kept his title.
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