Juan Carlos de Borbón, king of Spain from 1975 to 2014 and who has just published his memoirs in France (ReconciliationStock), addresses this Wednesday, this time in an interview on the French network France 3, his years of reign, the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of democracy in Spain and the controversial issues of his almost four decades as monarch. The interview, conducted by journalist Stéphane Bern in Abu Dhabi, will be broadcast on Wednesday evening.
Graduated Juan Carlos: the confidences of a king in disgracethe journalist asks him why he decided to speak now, in front of a camera, for the first time: “I thought for a long time not to do it, because my father told me that kings don’t do that, but I think that with time and after the years that have passed, it would be better to leave my personal feelings, my words, on what happened and what I was able to do with the Spaniards.”
Bern asks him if he feels like the truth is being stolen from him: “Yes, there are bad things and good things. That’s why at least those who read the book will see that I speak with an open heart,” he says. During the interview, which lasts 25 minutes, the journalist praises the results obtained by the emeritus, and asks him more succinctly about the scandals, such as “the account in Switzerland, the hunting in Botswana… You say you have made some mistakes, what are they?”
“All men make mistakes, everyone makes them”, replies Juan Carlos I. The journalist asks him whether “the gifts” weigh more on him (referring to the 65 million dollars received from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia) or the love stories attributed to him: “The worst? Well, I think that in Spain the money is more important… but everything is bad”.
Berna asks him if he regrets anything, if he has any remorse, to which the king emeritus replies: “No, I try not to have any.” “Would you be more careful now?” “Yes, of course,” he replies.
He says he speaks with King Felipe VI, whose work as monarch he praises: “As a father, I would like to see him more, to see him with his daughters, with Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía. As a king, I think he is going through a difficult time and needs support” due to “the political moment, which in all countries is very difficult”.
“Publishing your memoirs is a time for reflection, what is your perspective on your 39 years on the throne?” asks the journalist. “I served Spain, the Spanish people, and sometimes I didn’t pay enough attention to the family. I hope they forgive me and that the Spanish people understand what I did.”
He reminds the journalist of the day he was proclaimed King, November 22, 1975: “I lived those days with great emotion,” he says. Of his speech he notes: “I will always remember it because it was a crucial day in my life. The day before, for example, I was preparing the speech, all night, half awake because I said: this is the first time I have spoken in front of the Spanish people, and above all in front of a completely Francoist Parliament. So I had to be courageous and say what would be done.”
Regarding the beginnings of democracy, he admits that it was difficult at the beginning, he spoke with Adolfo Suárez: “We tried to do things well (…) I told him that I wanted us to move towards democracy, but we still didn’t know how to do it”. As for whether he had doubts in those moments: “I never, I never doubted,” he replies. The journalist asks him if, when drafting the Constitution, he had not wanted to reserve more power for himself: “Either you create democracy or you don’t”, he says.
Juan Carlos I addresses his relationship with Franco. Asked by the journalist if there was a certain rivalry between his father, Juan de Borbón, and the dictator, the emeritus replied: “Sometimes I had the impression of being like a ping-pong ball, but at that time I saw it as normal, I was very young, up to the age of 14 everything was fine, but from the age of 17 I attended military academies.”
Regarding how he “learned to remain silent” when he was appointed king by the dictator, Juan Carlos I emphasizes: “It is difficult to speak when there is another regime, since I was appointed heir to the throne, and my ideal was democracy, I had the impression that I had to prepare for the future and remain calm waiting for that moment (…) At that moment I had to agree with what was happening, I had to accept things as they came.”
Bern asks him about an interview he gave in the United States in which he said that when he was king he would restore democracy in Spain, and, while still at the airport, Franco called him for advice: “I thought, now he will be really angry with me. And he said to me: ‘Your Highness, you must say there what you cannot say here. And you must say here what you cannot say there. Nothing more.” I said to him: ‘General, why do you help me for the future?’. And he replied: You will have “You must do it. I can’t do it (…) The proof is that the day before his death, he took my hand and said to me: the only thing I ask of you is that you maintain the unity of Spain.”
When asked how he lives in Abu Dhabi, far from Spain, and if he ever plans to return, he replies: “At the moment I’m happy here. I don’t know if in a few years or next year, or in a few months, I’ll return to Spain. It will depend on the situation and the moment.”
