Overview
- The 500-page memoir, published in France this week with a Spanish edition due on December 3, revisits his central role in Spain’s transition to democracy and his televised stand against the 1981 coup.
- He offers his first public account of the 1956 death of his 14-year-old brother Alfonso, describing an accidental shot while the teenagers handled a pistol at their family home in Portugal.
- Juan Carlos acknowledges accepting a large payment from Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah as a “serious mistake” and expresses bitter regret over the Botswana hunting trip and his affair with Corinna Larsen.
- He says he feels abandoned by King Felipe VI, expresses a desire to return to Spain for a quiet retirement, and states he hopes to be buried with state honours.
- Key financial investigations were dropped in 2022 after back-tax payments, and a 2023 harassment case in London was dismissed, yet the royal household continues to keep its distance.