King Juan Carlos I assumes that he will not be able to settle in Spain again

Juan Carlos I has been almost 17 months outside of Spain. In August 2020, the emeritus made the decision to go to the United Arab Emirates to try to mitigate the wear and tear that his son, Felipe VI, was suffering due to the numerous information about his presumed hidden fortune. From Abu Dhabi, he closely follows the Spanish news and lives with “regret” what he has read in recent weeks about his supposed wishes to return and the conditions that he would be demanding. This week you have consulted with your lawyer, Javier Sánchez-Junco, the possibility of issuing a denial. The advice was that it is not worth it, because “I should come out with a statement almost every day.”

“He has assumed that he will not return to settle in the country of which he was head of state for almost 40 years,” say those who speak with him almost daily. These sources do not want to comment on the process of Juan Carlos I until reaching that conclusion, nor do they want to comment on whether he would change his mind if he became seriously ill. The monarch has made up his mind that he cannot regain his life before August 2020. “Go racing, go in and out of the country whenever you want. That can no longer be the case, no matter what happens with the pending issues of justice and the Tax Agency, “they point out.

“Sufficient” relationship with the child

As this newspaper published in October, his wish is to spend some “seasons” in Spain and he has already concluded that this can never last until he stays. Your home will always be outside. For now, in the United Arab Emirates. And he has not set a date for that first visit to Spain Nor has he communicated to the Government or his son his wish for it to take place in the coming weeks. Because the return, especially the first, will be prepared down to the last detail: how it is communicated to citizens, where it is staying, the reason or excuse for it to occur. But there is none of that for now, insist sources close to Juan Carlos I and government ministers forced to be aware of this possible operation. “There is no plan,” they stress. They will also have to elucidate between father and son whether or not he will set foot in the Palacio de la Zarzuela, even for a few hours and in a symbolic way, a gesture that the emeritus does want. Communication between the two is scarce, although from Abu Dhabi it is seen as “sufficient”.

Nor does Juan Carlos I have any intention of asking his son to give him a assignment in charge of the Budgets Generals of the State after the prosecution, predictably, files the three investigations that it has open. Felipe VI withdrew that income in March 2020 when, after information about his father’s opaque accounts, he decided to break with him publicly and also communicated that he will renounce the inheritance that may correspond to him when he dies. In all of 2020, Juan Carlos I would have received 194,232 euros from the public coffers. Finally, he only entered about 40,000 euros.

Possible tax offense

Although the announced file decree of the prosecutor’s office is confirmed (because the crimes are prescribed, occurred when he enjoyed the inviolability of the position or have been corrected with the regularizations before the Tax Agency), the former head of state fears a “moral reproach” about their actions make it black on white. It is also pending the investigation of the Treasury inspectors who must confirm that the complementary statements made by Juan Carlos I are “complete and truthful” and he has not committed any tax offense, an independent process that parallels that of the prosecution.

Entertaining and in good weather

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And while he waits for those dossiers to be closed and that of the British justice (before which his ex-lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein has sued the emeritus for harassment and defamation, among other crimes), Juan Carlos continues with his life in Abu Dhabi, where he enjoys the protection and attention of the family of the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Naan, crown prince of United Arab Emirates.

He is staying in a residence that has left him on one of the country’s islands, where he enjoys security and discretion, in addition to “good weather and excellent health care,” say those who have visited him. Receive Spanish and foreign friends and attend cultural and sporting events. The last one, the tournament that Rafa Nadal played last week. It allowed him to have a good time, although it included a scare afterwards, since the tennis player told him two days later that he had caught covid-19. The monarch underwent a PCR and it was negative.