Madrid (EFE).- Juan Carlos I plans to arrive today, Wednesday, in Sanxenxo (Pontevedra) from London, where last night he witnessed the Chelsea-Real Madrid football match, in what is his second visit to Spain since he moved to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) in August 2020 due to the controversy over his heritage abroad.
The emeritus king returns eleven months after his first trip, although the forecast is that his stay will be marked by discretion, after the discomfort caused in the Government by his previous stay in Sanxenxo and his refusal to give explanations for his personal behavior after the fiscal irregularities that he committed in the last years of his reign and after the abdication.
Arriving on a private plane, it has not been confirmed what time he will land at Vigo airport (Pontevedra), he will travel to Sanxenxo to be with his sailing friends until Sunday, according to his initial plan, on the occasion of the regatta which is being held this weekend and in which the Rascal is going to participate.
Juan Carlos I will arrive in Spain after spending two days in London, where he dined on Monday with a group of friends at the select Oswald’s private club in the center of the capital, according to photos published by the Daily Mail tabloid.
He also saw the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final at Stamford Bridge, invited by the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez.
The idea of the emeritus was to meet Carlos III privately, but last week the British Royal House and the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Spain ruled out that this appointment would take place, without having ruled on it again.
Last year he stayed in Sanxenxo at the home of his friend Pedro Campos
Don Juan Carlos, 85, stayed last year in Sanxenxo at the home of his friend Pedro Campos, as he has done on other occasions, although the boss of El Bribón has not confirmed it and it is not ruled out that he stays in another home. from the area.
Campos has remained silent these days in line with the discretion with which the visit is being prepared, which has led to restrictions being imposed on the press at the yacht club in the town of Pontevedra.
The mayor of the municipality, Telmo Martín, who announced last year the return to Spain of Felipe VI’s father, has also chosen not to give details of his arrival.
“I have no official news that it will arrive tomorrow (…) Last year the king had not come to Spain for more than two years and it made headlines worldwide. This year, if we are lucky enough to have him come, he comes to enjoy the regattas in the Pontevedra estuary, which is the best estuary in the world to do the sport he likes the most”, Martín told reporters.
Due to his mobility problems, the idea of the former head of state is to rest this Wednesday after his arrival and embark on Thursday to train with the crew with a view to the regatta, which will take place on Saturday and Sunday.
Juan Carlos I closed his first trip at the Palacio de la Zarzuela, where he had a long talk with Felipe VI in which he expressed his discomfort at how his stay in the Galician town had developed.
The emeritus king is not expected to meet his son
This time the emeritus king is not expected to meet his son, who found out from the press about his second trip to Spain.
The Casa del Rey expected him to come in June, once the municipal and regional elections on May 28 had been held, considering it inopportune for him to be in Spain during the electoral period, which began on the 4th with the signing of the decree convoking the elections by Felipe VI.
The new visit of Don Juan Carlos has aroused criticism from parties such as Podemos, ERC or EH Bildu, who have agreed to label it “indecency” and a “media show”.
The spokesman for Podemos, Javier Sánchez, has opined that the presence of a person who “never responded for his misdeeds” is a “discredit” for the institutions, for which reason “should be giving explanations and not doing regattas.”
EH Bildu has demanded that the Government withdraw the title of honorary king for “democratic hygiene”, according to his spokesman in Congress, Mertxe Aizpurua, while that of ERC, Gabriel Rufián, has indicated that the trip demonstrates the impunity in this country of a “Lord who promoted corruption in the last 40 years.”