Juan Carlos I will be the great absentee at the institutional events for the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the monarchy in Spain scheduled for Friday at the Royal Palace. However, the one who held the Crown for 39 years agreed to participate in the lunch to be held the next day at the Palacio del Pardo. A commemoration that belongs “exclusively” to the private sphere, La Zarzuela warned weeks ago, and in which the entire Royal Family will coincide, for the first time in just over two years: Queen Sofía, the Kings, Felipe VI and Letizia Ortiz, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía. All this, moreover, in the midst of the after-effects of the publication of Reconciliation (Stock, 2025), his controversial memoirs.
The lunch, of which Zarzuela wants to avoid any image appearing, will be attended by the king’s entire family: parents, sisters, nephews, cousins… There is still no confirmation of how many diners will participate, but a number similar to that of the celebration of the heiress’ 18th birthday, on 31 October 2023, is expected, the day on which Princess Leonor also took the oath on the Constitution.
The emeritus king has made headlines in the press, radio and television in recent weeks for the recent publication in France of his memoirs, a book in which he retraces his life, tiptoeing through more controversial episodes such as tax legislation, the alleged collection of commissions from other Gulf monarchies and the origin of his foreign accounts. The book, prepared for two years in Abu Dhabi together with the French writer Laurence Debray, will presumably go on sale in Spain on 3 December.
Concern over the revelations contained in the book has complicated Zarzuela’s preparations for the anniversary in recent months. For this reason, the Head of State ultimately decided not to invite him to the Golden Fleece delivery ceremonies – one of which was for the Queen Emeritus – in the Royal Palace, claiming that the Emeritus would have given up having an official agenda when he went into self-exile in Abu Dhabi in the summer of 2020. However, the family led by Felipe VI decided to make up for that absence by organizing a meal for the 22nd in El Pardo “exclusively” private. and open to the rest of the king’s family.
