Longing for his wife The exiled Spanish ex-king breaks his silence
Since fleeing into exile, Spain's former King Juan Carlos has been living in seclusion in Abu Dhabi - without visits from his wife Sofía. Now the exiled king writes about his loneliness in his biography.
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- He thought he would only stay for a few weeks. Now Juan Carlos has been living in Abu Dhabi for five years.
- Now, in his biography "Réconciliation", the former King of Spain provides insights into his relationship with his wife, former Queen Sofía.
- The former royal couple have been living apart for five years due to the 87-year-old's exile.
Former King Juan Carlos of Spain has been living in exile in Abu Dhabi since August 2020.
While the now 87-year-old had to withdraw from the public eye after various missteps, his wife Queen Sofía, who still lives in Spain, is still out and about on behalf of the crown.
There are thousands of kilometers between the former royal couple: However, estrangement and other relationship problems are hardly topics that an active king and former monarchs have ever spoken about publicly.
Not so Juan Carlos.
He is now breaking his silence - in the biography "Réconciliation" ("Reconciliation"). He wrote the book together with French author Laurence Debray.
According to the French newspaper "Le Monde ", Juan Carlos is particularly pained by the great distance to his wife and consort. "Nothing will ever affect my deep feelings for my wife Sofía, my queen, not even a few missteps," the ex-king reveals in the book.
What pains Juan Carlos most of all, however, is that Sofía is said not to have visited him once in Abu Dhabi in all those years.
Juan Carlos and Sofía speak regularly on the phone
In his biography, Juan Carlos claims to know the reason for his wife's lack of visits: It was the fault of their son Felipe, the current King of Spain.
"I suspect that she doesn't want to upset her son, with whom she has always had a very close relationship," Juan Carlos oracles.
Nevertheless, he is still in contact with Sofía to this day. The ex-monarch writes that they speak regularly on the phone.
Still tensions in the father-son relationship
However, a visit by Sofía to Abu Dhabi is considered unlikely in royal circles. Contact with her son is still too close for that.
All the more reason for the 87-year-old former queen to regularly appear alongside her son at public events. Meanwhile, according to royal insiders, the relationship between Juan Carlos and Felipe is still considered complicated and tense.
The current King of Spain had clearly distanced himself from the former monarch after the various paternal scandals.
In order to prevent further damage to the image of the royal house and the royal family, Juan Carlos subsequently decided to live abroad - and in summer 2020 secretly left the country of which he was monarch from 1975 to 2014.
