Infidelities, the 23-F coup attempt, or the death of his brother: Juan Carlos I confesses in his memoirs

BarcelonaJuan Carlos I confesses. He does so in ReconciliationHis first-person memoirs, published by Stock and arriving in French bookstores this Wednesday, recount his reign, from Franco's appointment as successor to his decision to move to Abu Dhabi amidst financial scandals, as well as more personal episodes from his life. In the book, which will not be released in Spain until December 3rd, Juan Carlos admits for the first time to having had extramarital affairs, being unfaithful to Queen Sofía. He refers to them as "emotional indiscretions," but maintains that they were neither as numerous as the tabloids have reported, nor did they affect his performance of his duties as monarch. "They attributed illegitimate children to me! I had to hire a lawyer to defend myself against these accusations. The press likes to talk in a fanciful way," he recounts in the book, according to the EFE news agency. Among other things, he denies having had any relationship with Princess Diana and says that his involvement with Corinna Larsen...who ended up suing him for harassmentIt was a mistake. "On that hunt, I became easy prey," he says, recalling the infamous elephant hunting trip to Botswana, for which he eventually apologized. Juan Carlos I would abdicate in 2014, after having ascended the throne in 1975. When King Felipe VI withdrew his allowance as former head of state in 2020, the emeritus king turned on his son, telling him: "Don't forget that you are inheriting a political system." The Country.

Beyond his love life, the emeritus king recalls how he came to the throne of Spain in a memoir that, as he himself has stated, Their aim is to rehabilitate his image after five years living in Abu Dhabi. "Franco himself was certain that my monarchy could not be Falangist. He told me: 'I can't do it, you will make the opening,'" he explains. Regarding the 23-F coup attempt, he distances himself from it and defends his role after Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero stormed the Congress of Deputies, to the point that he believes he never in his life demonstrated as much "authority" as he did then. "That night my political work was at stake and the fate of the Spanish people was in my hands," he states.

The family

Among the darkest episodes in the monarch's life is the death of his brother Alfonso in 1956, while they were playing with a .22 caliber pistol given to them by an army lieutenant. Juan Carlos says he never recovered from this event and dedicates a short, two-page chapter to it. The pistol had no magazine. Neither brother, he explains, considered the possibility of a bullet remaining in the chamber. "A shot was fired into the air, the bullet ricocheted and struck my brother right in front of him. He died in my father's arms," the emeritus king recounts. He says he thinks about that moment "every day." Regarding his family, Juan Carlos has kind words for one of his grandsons, Froilán: he is "a joy that brightens" his days, especially since his move to Abu Dhabi, an "exile" he describes as feeling like "imprisonment." He acknowledges that Froilán has been involved in some scandals, but attributes them to his parents' divorce, as he has gone "from party to party," gotten into fights, and kept "bad company." After the emeritus king took him under his wing, Juan Carlos I emphasizes, Froilán has now found his way and avoided causing the family any more grief.