The first thing you see when entering the house of Jaime Peñafiel (Granada, 93 years old) is a glass window from which you can admire the entire Casa de Campo. From the journalist’s apartment, atop a tower, you can see every corner of this lush forest that once served as a playground for the kings of Spain. The second thing you notice is a display case full of photo frames. They are photographs of the host, number one reporter of the gossip press for decades, with some of his most illustrious friends and acquaintances: Kings Juan Carlos I and Sofia, Charles of England, the late Duke of Edinburgh, Princes Rainier and Grace of Monaco, Shah Reza Pahlevi and Empress Farah Diba, Felipe González and Carmen Romero… “I don’t want to live in memory because it seems decadent to me, but I have many memories of it,” he admits.
Among all the photos on that table, there is one in particular. In the snapshot, Peñafiel hugs a woman. You can see him smiling and she looks serious, almost uncomfortable. This is Queen Letizia, at the time of the image of princess of Asturias. “They took him the day we fought,” the journalist recalls. They met at an event, had an exchange of words and he blurted out: “Don’t point the finger at me.” The rest is history. “I still think that Felipe didn’t marry the right person, but that’s his problem. How will this marriage end? I won’t see it. I’m at the limit, I have a maximum of two years left to live,” she says.
For now he enjoys good health and a prodigious memory. He remembers even the smallest detail of the more than 40 royal weddings he covered and the millions of unspeakable rumors that kings and princesses, dukes and marquises, music stars and socialites. He has completed 70 years of career and has no intention of retiring. “Shall I tell you my secret? I walk 10 kilometers a day, I eat one meal a day and I try to make love whenever I can.” Peñafiel always says that what is silent is worth more than what he says, but in the end he never remains silent.
Ask. He started covering wars. How do you go from there to chronicler of the heart?
Answer. I’ve worked so hard that sometimes I’m ashamed. I studied law because my grandfather was a magistrate and wanted me to become a lawyer like him. But I always liked being a spectator. I started at Europa Press, covering earthquakes, kidnappings and wars. I was in the Six Day War, in Vietnam… I worked for different agencies, until he signed me HI! It seemed like a good opportunity. So their covers were big events, big characters: Grace of Monaco, Farah Diba. I can say that I went up to castles and down to mountain huts and that I left pleasant memories everywhere. Did you know I was a miner?
Q. Truly?
R. I worked as a miner for two years in Sabero, León. He was 21 or 22 years old. When I finished Law, Father Llanos found me a job as assistant to the picador. I wanted to see it. He worked at 500 meters depth. I had a lot of fun and had a very bad time.
Q. And from there upwards: palaces, kings… Is it more difficult to grit your teeth or give an exclusive that comes from the heart?
R. It’s harder to get an exclusive than to dig in the mine. I admit that I was very lucky because I was well received in all the royal houses. I have been the custodian of very important confidences and I have never betrayed anyone. I have a file that I told Carmen, my wife: “The day I die, burn it.”
Q. What was the most difficult moment?
R. The death of my daughter, my only daughter, killed by drugs and AIDS. It was the worst thing that happened to me in my life, it left me very touched. On the day of his death, General Sabino Fernández Campo, head of the King’s House, came here, to my house, sat down and began to cry with me. I told him: “Sabino, you have 10 children and six are dead”. He replied, “Yes, but you only had one.” Just as King Juan Carlos called me emotionally, almost crying, Queen Sofia took almost a month to give me her condolences and she communicated them to me through a letter that her secretary, General Cabrera, gave me. I have a certain resentment about it.
Q. When did you meet King Juan Carlos?
R. The day he was proclaimed king, he, the queen and I were alone in his office at the Zarzuela. That day we began to remember. Juan Carlos told me: “I think we have known each other since I was a cadet at the Military Academy of Zaragoza.” I think even before. We got along very well, we got along well, he told me a lot of very difficult secrets. I was respectful in many things, in others less so. I said things that perhaps he didn’t like.
Q. When do you walk away from them?
R. I walked away. I was very critical because you have to be. If you are independent, like I am, you have to be critical. I am already at a dangerous age, 93, where I care very little about everything.
Q. For many years he has been very critical of Queen Letizia.
R. Letizia’s story is a miracle. With the biography she has, becoming queen is like a novel. She became queen of Spain against all odds.
Q. This is exactly what many Spaniards like.
R. Some like it and some don’t. I am not a courtier. I didn’t like it.
Q. I have the feeling that monarchists don’t like this, but republicans do.
R. Spain is a very strange country. It is not a monarchy, nor is it a republic. This monarchy has no monarchists. Felipe has a good image, tries to do well and is his father’s son. King Juan Carlos was a wonderful king, although he later ruined it.
Q. What do you think of his memoirs?
R. A king should not write his memoirs. Don Juan Carlos behaved very badly towards Carlos Herrera. Carlos had written some memoirs and suddenly Juan Carlos decided that they would not be published. Carlos Herrera’s are magnificent, the best. I could read them. They are serious memories. Laurence Debray’s people are frivolous and gossipy.
Q. Were you surprised by what he says? Something I didn’t know?
R. I know and much more. I know many things about General Sabino, the most honest man that Don Juan Carlos had at his side. He told me things that I will never be able to say and that not even the King says.
Q. The emeritus assures that he only had a couple of “lapses”.
R. A couple? He had miserable gestures. Aside from physically abusing her, he did everything to Queen Sofia. He had terribly disqualifying words for her. The Queen resisted with great dignity. He suffered, he suffered and he moved on. It was definitely not a love marriage. There were no great passions on his part. Doña Sofía cried a lot for her husband’s dear friends. I have been to meals with them where some of those friends have appeared. Doña Sofía never lost her patience.
Q. Have you never had a close friend?
R. No, not her.
Q. Did everyone know about King Juan Carlos’ affairs?
R. All. Ambition dominates him. He lost his money, and then his women. It was over and over and over again. I was the last one to interview Queen Victoria Eugenie, a few days before she died. In that interview he told me what he suffered with Alfonso XIII. She was very unfortunate and suffered a lot from her husband’s infidelities. And he said to me: “My nephew is exactly the same. They are genetically Bourbon: assholes.” Queen Victoria Eugenie was very graceful when she spoke.
Q. A few months ago Philip VI awarded his first noble titles. Think you deserve one?
R. The titles seem ridiculous to me. Being Jaime Peñafiel I have had enough.
Q. Is he monarchist or republican?
R. I was juancarlistalike many Spaniards. In Spain there are no monarchists, there are only juancarlistas. With Don Juan Carlos gone, what remains?
Q. Of all the kings you have met, which one made the best impression on you?
R. I still have a relationship with some, like Empress Farah Diba. Let’s stay in touch. The Shah was a very upright man. I also had a great relationship with Carlos Gustavo of Sweden, although I always had the impression that reigning was too big for him.
Q. In his memoirs, King Juan Carlos states that Lady Di was “cold and taciturn”. Is that so?
R. Yes, I was very unhappy. But Juan Carlos ended up falling in love with her. Diana had charm.
Q. And Grace Kelly?
R. It was a angelin. I had such a tender relationship with her. Sometimes he would change the dates of his parties so that I could be there.
Q. Do you regret having published the photo of Franco dying on the cover of The magazine?
R. I don’t regret it. I would do it again a hundred thousand times. No one knew what happened in the last days of the dictator’s life. Suddenly seeing that human waste… Exploitation of a person’s agony is immoral, but they were the first to use their agony. They kept him half alive for days for political reasons, so that the new president of the Cortes would be Francoist. I wanted the Spaniards to know about this manipulation. When I published the photos, Antonio Asensio, president of Grupo Zeta, told me: “Those photos will ruin your life.” He was right. The day they were published, even Felipe González, President of the Government, called me and said: “Aren’t you ashamed? Would you have published the photos of your father?” I replied: “President, my father was not head of state.” That evening I went to dinner with my wife Carmen at Lucio’s. A man stood up from the table and called me a son of a bitch. Zeta had to ensure my safety because those from Fuerza Nueva were looking for me. I’m small, but I resisted.
Q. How do you see the tabloid press today?
R. There is a crisis of character. When I see the covers of HI!Sometimes I say, “Who is this? I don’t know him.” Everything has been lowered, everything has been vulgarized. I’m happy with my age because I won’t see some of the things that will be produced. At 93 years old, perhaps I won’t even see a change of government.
Q. Would you like to see Leonor’s proclamation?
R. Leonor is 20 years old. His father is a young man, he could be king for another 20 years. I ask myself: “Will there be a monarchy in twenty years?”
Q. And what do you answer?
R. I think not. But I won’t see it.
Q. Isabel Preysler’s memoirs have the title my true story. Is it all true?
R. Lie. Everyone lies in their memories, everyone creates them as they please. Everyone writes what they think should have happened, not what happened.
Q. Julio Iglesias, of whom he is a great friend, has been announcing for years that he will publish his. When will they come out?
R. Never. He didn’t even write them. Julio lives in the Bahamas. He is happy there and lacks nothing. He will never sing again and we will never see him again.
Q. I see there on the door of his house a photo of him with Queen Letizia. You will admit that they didn’t make it easy for you.
R. We didn’t put it there.
Q. So you recognize it?
R. YES. We were very harsh with Letizia, we attacked her a lot because of her family and her past. Deep down, I admire her.
Q. Would you like to reconcile with her?
R. I like to reconcile with everyone.
Q. What would I tell him?
R. I would tell him not to take me the wrong way, that I am very extroverted, a consequence of the admiration I have for him. She must already know. I have a deep admiration for her because she has one merit: despite all her baggage, she became queen of Spain.
