Regrets and reconciliation: Spain's emeritus King Juan Carlos shares respect for Franco in memoir

The emeritus king Juan Carlos I has defended his role in the return of democracy to Spain andin the "transition", while expressing his respect for the dictator Francisco Franco.

He also regretted the "weaknesses" that led him to make mistakes during his reign, which ultimately led him to distance himself from his family.

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the general's death, the former monarchmaintains that "Spanish democracy did not fall from the sky"and that it was he himself who "wanted it from the beginning."

His comments have been widely reported in several interviews granted to French media outlets, including 'Le Monde' and 'Le Figaro', to mark the forthcoming publication of his memoirs "Reconciliation. Memoirs. Juan Carlos I of Spain", written by historian Laurence Debray.

This new biography, which will be published this week in France and in early December in Spain, coincides with the half-century of Franco's death, on 20 November 1975, and with the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of Juan Carlos as king, on 22 November of the same year.

In these pages, the emeritus states that his testimony seeks to "remind the new generations of what freedom cost", at a time when, he regrets, "the spirit of the transition has been lost".

Franco and friends

Juan Carlos also recallsthe complex relationship he had with the dictator, of whom he says he had a "paternal" feeling. "I respected him enormously, I appreciated his intelligence and his political sense. Thanks to him I was king," he admits. According to the emeritus monarch, Franco made him his successor "to create a more open regime". And he adds that he never allowed the dictator to be spoken ill of in front of him.

On the attempted coup d'état of 23F, he denies any sympathy for the rebels and claims that he felt "betrayed" by one of his closest friends, General Alfonso Armada, whom he accuses of "convincing the generals" that he was speaking on their behalf. "There was not one coup, but three," he says: that of Antonio Tejero, that of Armada and "that of certain elected officials close to Francoism".

During the transition process, he highlights his decision to legalise the Communist Party in 1977, a measure he negotiated with the then president of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu, in order to contact Santiago Carrillo. "It was a time when the left respected the institutions," he stresses.

Family ties and distance from the Crown

The monarch also devotes part of his memoirs to his family. He reveals that his son, King Felipe VI, tried to dissuade him from writing the book and regrets the coldness between them since his departure to Abu Dhabi in 2020. "I understand that, as king, he must have a firm public position, but I suffered because he was so insensitive," he confesses. From that family reunion at Christmas 2020, a "silence of incomprehension and pain" stayed with him.

Juan Carlos also acknowledges his strained relationship with the current Queen Letizia, whose arrival, he says, "did not help family cohesion". In contrast, he expresses affection for his wife, Queen Sofía, although he regrets that "she has not gone to visit him" in the Emirates. He also mentions that he has hardly seen his grandchildren, except for Froilán, who lives with him, and admits to feeling "hurt by a sense of abandonment".

Mistakes, riches and regrets

The emeritus monarch openly acknowledges having made mistakes and "weaknesses". Among them, he considers it a "serious mistake" to have accepted the $100 million (86 million euros) gift from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2008. "I didn't know how to turn it down", he admits, although he stresses that all related legal proceedings have been closed. He also regrets his trip to Botswana in 2012, "a distant and expensive trip that may have seemed surprising given the situation in the country", which was in the midst of a crisis at the time.

In his account, he claims to have surrounded himself with "an ill-intentioned environment" and to have trusted "unscrupulous businessmen", which led him to find himself "in the middle of a financial mess" over which he had no control. "They acted in my name, but for their own benefit," he says.

From exile, Juan Carlos I says he misses Spain and hopes to be able to return one day. "I am resigned, but wounded by a sense of abandonment. I miss my home," writes the monarch, who concludes with an intimate confession: "I gave freedom to the Spanish people by establishing democracy, but I was never able to enjoy that freedom for myself."