The Royal House has left the emeritus king out of the events to commemorate the 50 years of the restoration of the monarchy. Specifically, King Felipe VI celebrates the anniversary with two institutional events in Congress, where there will be a discussion with academics and constitutional speakers, and in the Royal Palace, where the Golden Fleece will be presented, among others, to Queen Sofia.
Regarding the absence of Juan Carlos de Borbón from both events, Zarzuela recalls that the one who was monarch for almost four decades decided in 2019 to no longer participate in institutional events such as the one that will take place in the Royal Palace, regardless of the fact that he is currently residing in exile in the United Arab Emirates. However, from Casa Real they have reported that on Saturday, November 22, precisely the day that Juan Carlos I was sworn in as king after the death of Franco, a lunch of “strictly family and totally private nature” is planned to which Felipe VI's father has been invited, without it being clear at the moment if he plans to attend.
From Zarzuela they reported this Friday that the kings, accompanied by the Princess of Asturias and the Infanta Sofía, will attend the event “50 years later: the Crown in the transition to democracy” on November 21, organized by the Congress of Deputies. The event, which will be held in the Constitutional Chamber of the Lower House, will be moderated by journalists Fernando Ónega and Iñaki Gabilondo and will feature the participation of Miquel Roca and Miguel Herrero, living fathers of the Constitution, as well as the academic Adela Cortina, and the president of the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies, Rosario García Mahamut.
Subsequently, the Royal Palace will host an institutional event in which the last golden fleeces granted by the king to Sofia of Greece, former president Felipe González, and the two living fathers of the Constitution Miquel Roca and Miguel Herrero will be presented. In this case, the assistance of the powers of the State is planned, starting with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
Despite this decision, in recent days the emeritus has wanted to vindicate his role in the historic moment of the restoration of the monarchy and the arrival of democracy with the publication of interviews in the French press and the preview of some excerpts from his book of memories that will be published on November 5 in the neighboring country. Thus, in an interview in Le Figaro He stressed that “democracy did not fall from the sky” and recalled that Franco was the one who made him king “to create a more open regime.”
In the extracts from Reconciliation, written together with Laurence Debray and published by Stock in France, which has advanced The Pointthe emeritus abounds in this idea. Thus, he recounts his last conversation with the leader on his deathbed. “He took my hand and said to me as if in a last breath: 'Your Highness, I only ask one thing of you: maintain the unity of the country. That was his last wish. He did not ask me to preserve the regime as it was or the principles of the National Movement,” he emphasizes in his memoirs. “Therefore, I had my hands free to initiate reforms as long as the unity of Spain was not called into question. I had the impression that it gave me freedom to act,” he argues, thus justifying the steps he took next and which would culminate with the holding of free elections on June 15, 1977 and the proclamation of the Constitution on December 6, 1978.