Juan Carlos Interview: No Regrets & Royal Family Silence

We do not know what may happen right now with the interview that journalist Stéphane Bern conducted with King Juan Carlos in Abu Dhabi, although Susanna Griso has already announced that she would love to broadcast it on her program. Something must be said in his favor: it was not, like the interview published in Le Figaro Magazine, a walk in the clouds for the emeritus. Here The questions did have a certain incisive componentwithout exaggeration. Actually the problem was not the questions, but the answers.

While waiting to find out if any Spanish channel can access this interview, we can advance the following it has had among the French audience: very little. It seems that the share in the neighboring country was around 6%while the movie that was scheduled at the same time doubled this figure. It is not strange: it is logical that the French, famous for their chauvinism, do not show interest in an emeritus and Spanish monarch. It is also true that King Juan Carlos’s explanations were a historical testimony, but one that has fallen into disrepair.

As with his memoirs, titled Reconciliation, certain episodes narrated by King Juan Carlos in his interview have a very personal point of view. Let’s say that memory presents them as best suits the monarch and not as the facts attest. For example, he explains that the abdication was his idea and that King Philip pressured him not to abandon his throne and crown. “What Felipe did was try to get his father to abdicate and he thrashed around like a cat on his stomach,” Pilar Eyre denied.

The journalist and expert on Casa Real has caught more half-truths on the fly in this strange interview, as strange as what we have already known about Reconciliation. Let us remember that his memoirs are not published in Spain until December 3. He said that the dictator Francisco Franco told him the day before he died to “take care of Spain”: However, Franco was in a coma for 20 days. He also insisted that during the coup d’état of February 23 he was isolated at home. “He spoke with all the captaincies, with all the politicians, with all the generals,” says Eyre.

King Juan Carlos will not grant more interviews

The truth is that the reactions to this historic interview have not been very flattering, also because the content of the answers has not gone down well with unsung professionals, who probably will not have the opportunity to interview King Juan Carlos as several French journalists have done. One of the most criticized passages is the one in which the emeritus admits that he is not sorry for his mistakesspecifically because of the sentimental and financial scandals that he has been involved in. And he has no regrets about them either: “I try hard not to have them,” he said.

As Vanitatis publishes, it seems that King Juan Carlos wanted to tone down the belligerent messages he gives in Reconciliation and some responses from his first two interviews, published in The Figaro Magazine and Paris Match. In fact, he insists that His intention is to support his son, King Felipein “a difficult situation” and no longer mentions either Queen Letizia or Queen Emeritus Sofía. According to Silvia Taulés, the interview was recorded on November 5.

One of the messages that he most reduced in this television interview is the one that has to do with his desire to return to Spain, a clear and direct request that has now been quite nuanced, not to say that it has taken a 180 degree turn. In fact, he maintains that At the moment he is doing well in Abu Dhabi. and that he has no urgency to return. «I don’t know if in a few months or next year I will settle in Spain, it will depend on the situation and the moment. At the moment, I’m very good here,” he said.

King Juan Carlos discreetly recanted

In addition to recanting in his own way, King Juan Carlos did not miss the opportunity to justify his mistakes with phrases like: “All men make mistakes, everyone makes them.” Furthermore, he confessed not be concerned about the opinion that others may have about his behavior. «I’m used to hearing everything. Everyone has the right to their opinion, but everything is resolved, everything is over. “I’m calm,” he said. And he repeated, almost like a mantra: «Everything is fixed. It’s all over. “I’m calm.”

Clearly, King Juan Carlos wanted to calm the waters, in a discreet reversal that should be read as a personal decision. He asked his family to apologize for not being present enough and also to all Spaniards. “I hope you forgive me and that the Spanish people understand what I did». And he insisted: “Let the Spanish understand what I have done.”