The fact that the uncrowned king recently published his memoirs and that 50 years have passed since his coronation has reignited the debate over what his mark on Spain’s history will be. A party of the Spanish left is clear: the best thing would be to erase his legacy due to the scandals that tormented him during his last years at the Zarzuela Palace. More Madrid, through the Sumar Parliamentary Group, will present to Congress an initiative to have Juan Carlos I, the name of its monarch, removed from universities, hospitals and also from the streets and avenues. A total cancellation, almost as if its role in the Transition had never existed or had no relevance, even if it will hardly be able to move forward due to respect for the monarchy that the majority parties have.
In that party they believe that it would be the most logical thing if one takes into account that an event will be held in Congress on Friday to celebrate half a century since his coronation to which he was not even invited. Yes, the current kings, Philip VI and Letizia, and their two daughters, the Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía, will be present, but their absence has a very powerful symbolism. Juan Carlos I will spend that day far from any celebration, in Abu Dhabi, the place where he took refuge in the autumn of his life.
The coherent thing, for Más Madrid, would be to remove his name from all the institutions that bear him, which are quite a few. “Updating these symbols according to the principles of integrity, exemplaryness and public ethics is essential to strengthen democratic credibility and promote a coherent public memory,” explains the party in the initiative, which will be presented on Tuesday. “He was not invited to the ceremony, an exclusion which reveals the clear institutional distance that the State itself and the public powers have established with respect to his figure,” they add.
In the memoir which was published in France and will be published in two weeks in Spain, a wounded man is portrayed, aware of some of his mistakes, but who believes he has been treated unfairly. “My son turned his back on me out of a sense of duty,” she says in an excerpt, recalling a meeting with him in 2020, after judicial investigations in Switzerland into his million-dollar accounts came to light. He says he understands that, as king, his son has maintained a “firm public position.” Then comes the lament: “But I suffered from his insensitivity”.
Juan Carlos I reigned for four decades which coincided with the period of greatest prosperity in Spain’s history. He was proclaimed before his father, to whom the crown belonged if natural succession was followed. However, the dictator Francisco Franco, before his death, chose him as his successor. In 2014 he gave way to his son Felipe VI, at a time when his image was already worn down by several cases of corruption. Added to this series of accusations are his health problems, which surprised many Spaniards who had idealized him.
In the book, entitled Reconciliationhe reveals a conversation he had with the current king in that transcendent moment: “Don’t forget that you inherit a political system that I built. You can exclude me personally and financially, but you cannot reject the institutional legacy in which you grew up.” He partly attributes this distancing to the current socialist president, Pedro Sánchez, who he accuses of “discrediting” his person. Sánchez, in a recent interview with EL PAÍS, joked about this: “I haven’t read it yet, but I will also tell you that it won’t be one of the ones I recommend for this Christmas, given what I’ve seen.”
The king feels misunderstood, forgotten, treated unfairly. “I feel like my story has been stolen from me,” he says in the prologue. But Real Madrid wants to take something else away from him: the seal of his name.
