King Juan Carlos of Spain has revealed that he has an ongoing dispute with his daughter-in-law, Queen Letizia, in his new book, Reconciliation, which is set to be released next week. The father of King Felipe VI said that he and the Queen of Spain had a “personal disagreement”
According to El Confidencial, in the new book, the King Emeritus explains he has maintained a distant relationship with Letizia for years, as “she did not help to strengthen our family ties.” The significance of Juan Carlos’ confession is great, as it’s the first time the former head of state has addressed the ongoing suspicion that there was a rift within the Spanish Royal Family. It has been believed since Felipe and Letizia’s engagement in 2003 that there have been tensions that were further implied by King Juan’s decision to abdicate the throne in 2014 and his subsequent departure from Spain in 2020. The book aims to “offer his version” of his years on the throne, the democratic transition, and the complex family dynamics that have accompanied the generational change within the Crown.
© WireImageThere have been rumours of a family rift since Queen Letizia and King Felipe’s engagement in 2003
His relationship with Leonor and Sofia
© AFP via Getty ImagesKing Juan Carlos hasn’t been photographed with his granddaughters since 2018
The French weekly Magazine Paris Match, which has had access to the book, said in its description of the memoir that the former King was urged “to stay away” and that isn’t allowed to contact his granddaughters. Princess Leonor hasn’t been photographed with her grandfather since November 2018 at the 40th anniversary of the Constitution. El Confidencial also reported that, according to King Emeritus himself, the Princess has never visited him in Abu Dhabi, although a private meeting did take place in September 2014, when Juan Carlos was in Galicia participating in regattas and Leonor was in Marín. King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were also present at the meeting, marking one of the few family contacts recorded in recent years.
Spanish royal family scandal
King Juan had a string of controversies leading up to his abdication after nearly 40 years on the Spanish throne. He had affairs and among his lovers was Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, a Danish businesswoman with whom he went elephant hunting in Africa in 2012, as Spain languished in a deep recession. The affair tipped popular opinion against a king who had been internationally acclaimed for steering Spain from dictatorship to democracy in the 1970s. Following his abdication, the former king spent a period of self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates.
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