An extraordinary interview given by Don Juan Carlos to France 3, a public service channel, to speak with extraordinary honesty about his life, his parents, Don Juan, General Franco, his wife, his son Don Felipe, and the political future of his country. … Spain.
There is no living politician, in Spain or Europe, who is able to speak frankly and sincerely about capitalist issues that concern his country, his most intimate life, and his family. Don Juan Carlos does this with his heart in his hands, admitting his mistakes, assuming weaknesses, remembering the essentials: “As a father and grandfather, I would like to see my family often, and to see my son with his family, with Princess Leonor and baby Sofía. “As a king, my son is going through a difficult time and needs support.”
With this basic familial and political matrix, Don Juan Carlos directly confronts the questions of Stefan Berne, a specialist journalist, about the scandals and corruption that hastened his downfall: “Like all men, I made mistakes. I try not to have regrets; The journalist remembers the words of Don Juan Carlos in his memoirs: “After forty years of dictatorship, I gave the Spaniards a democracy that is still alive and is my inheritance (…) Democracy did not fall from the sky!” (..) It is my life’s work, which I built with all my might. This is what I want to explain and defend.”
Bern asks him humbly and frankly Which scandals seem more serious to you, “economic” or “emotional”? Don Juan Carlos answers: “The worst?” Well, I think money is the most important thing in Spain. But everything is bad.
Don Juan Carlos, recognized and assumed, mistakes and errors, recounts his education, between his father, Don Juan de Borbón, and the irreconcilable General Franco, the historical process of establishing democracy, abandoning this confession: «I served Spain. Spanish democracy is my life’s work, as I said in my memoirs. And sometimes I didn’t care enough about my family. “I hope the Spanish people understand what I did and forgive me.”
Bern recalls the first time Don Juan Carlos spoke about the future of democracy in Spain and the United States, which he should restore when he was king. On that occasion, Al-Fakhri and Franco threatened to clash Which Don Juan Carlos sums up as follows: “I thought Franco would be angry. He said to me: “Your Highness, you have to say there something you cannot say here.” I replied: “General, why don’t you help me in the future?” “You have to do it,” Franco replied. I can’t do that. One day before his death, he held my hand and said to me: The only thing I ask of you is to preserve the unity of Spain.
With these principles established, Don Juan Carlos recalls his father saying: “My son, the king is looked at even when he is in the bathroom.” I remember this distant warning on the occasion of the decision to move away from Spain: “I have never seen any King of Spain use crutches, besides my hip problems. “It is always better to have a younger king than an older one.”
The decision to leave Spain
The decision to leave Spain is inseparable from his abdication in Don Felipe: “The main thing is to leave my son free. If he was, if he continued by her side, it might be a mess. “He had all my confidence.” The relationship, since then, is where the father, grandfather and king have mixed feelings towards another king: “Our relationship is very good. As a father and as a King, I would like to see him more, just as I would like to see more of my daughters, Princess Leonor, Infanta Sofía. “My great hope, my great hope, is that my son will succeed and that Spain will be well managed.”
This intimate familial recognition also has a national and national dimension: “I miss Spain…its smells, its landscapes, the bulls, the flamenco, the food, everything. That’s why I sail regularly, and I have a good time.”
“When will he come back?” The journalist asks him. Don Juan Carlos answers: “When I say sometimes that I feel abandoned, I am speaking philosophically. I hope my return will be normal. I served Spain, and I was with the Spaniards. I hope you can forgive me and understand what I did and am doing. return? “Everything will depend on the situation and the moment.”
In the conscience and words of Don Juan Carlos, personal destiny, and family destiny The national destiny of Spain is closely linked, When he repeats this reflection about Don Felipe: “As a king, I think he is going through a difficult time and needs support.”