{"id":62707,"date":"2026-07-29T17:59:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/62707\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T17:59:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:59:27","slug":"queen-sofia-of-spain-reunites-with-her-exiled-husband-king-juan-carlos-i-for-rare-joint-public-outing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/62707\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Sofia of Spain reunites with her exiled husband, King Juan Carlos I, for rare joint public outing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>But this summer, the former monarch was not in Mallorca on royal business. Indeed, he arrived from Geneva and spent just 24 hours in Mallorca, staying at a friend\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/house\" isautogenerated=\"true\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">house<\/a> in Cala d\u2019Or rather than spending the night in the Palace. Sources told HOLA! that Juan Carlos\u2019 brief reunion in Spain was nevertheless a \u2018moment of happiness\u2019 that left him \u2018very pleased\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>After joining his family at Marivent, the King continued with the primary objective of his visit, joining Rafael Nadal to host the 80th birthday celebration of close friend Muguel Arias. Juan Carlos and Sofia are known to enjoy a warm relationship with the legendary tennis player, and both were invited to his wedding in 2019, which marked the former monarch\u2019s last social engagements in Mallorca. King Juan Carlos\u2019 last official visit to the island came in 2018, when he joined his son King Felipe and the royal family at Easter Mass in Palma de Mallorca.<\/p>\n<p>Read More<\/p>\n<p><a attributes=\"[object Object]\" class=\"external-link-embed__hed-link button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/article\/howden-family-interview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">At home with\u2026 the Howdens of Cornbury Park<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD ExternalLinkEmbedDek-KGahj gYahFx evzMdD\">From throwing raves for royalty to hosting \u2014 and winning \u2014 their very own horse trials, no one has put their mark on Cornbury Park like the Howdens. Dora Davies-Evitt meets the family<\/p>\n<p><a attributes=\"[object Object]\" class=\"external-link-embed__image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/article\/howden-family-interview\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain: Person, Lamp, Adult, Plant, Potted Plant, and Wedding\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Howdens_080326_final_Tatler_27.05.25_174.jpg\"\/><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Felipe VI of Spain Juan Carlos I Jo\u00e3o Loureiro Person People Adult Accessories Formal Wear and Tie\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/940562688.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The former king&#8217;s last official engagement in Mallorca came in Easter 2018, when he joined King Felipe, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia for traditional celebrations<\/p>\n<p>JAIME REINA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>It was his first time joining the family at the traditional Easter celebrations since 2014, the year he was forced to abdicate in favour of his son. He has, however, insisted that he \u2018never stopped serving Spain and the Spanish people,\u2019 and in November last year released a memoir, titled Reconciliation, in which he stressed his loyalty to the Crown.<\/p>\n<p>Juan Carlos ascended to the throne in November 1975 following the death of General Franco, who chose him as his successor following the reinstatement of the monarchy; his grandfather, Alfonso XIII, was the last King of Spain before the abolition in 1931. In previous years, Juan Carlos was considered one of Spain\u2019s most respected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tatler.com\/topic\/public\" class=\"text link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">public<\/a> figures, particularly for dismantling the Francoist regime and reinstating a democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But this summer, the former monarch was not in Mallorca on royal business. Indeed, he arrived from Geneva&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[273,3773,286,17,8160],"class_list":["post-62707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-news","tag-queen-sofia-of-spain","tag-royals","tag-spain","tag-spanish-royal-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}