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Former King of Spain Juan Carlos is back in Madrid after 21 months away. The 84-year-old retired monarch said he has returned to “normalize everything” and hopes to hug his loved ones.
Juan Carlos wants to visit Spain more often. In the summer of 2020, he suddenly disappeared from Spain after being discredited by financial dealings. It took some time before it became known that he had emigrated to Abu Dhabi.
He lunches as a guest in the royal palace of Zarzuela in the northwest of Madrid with, among others, his wife Sofia, his daughters and his son King Felipe. He lived and worked there for decades as a monarch. He will return to the United Arab Emirates later today.
On Thursday evening, Juan Carlos arrived in northwest Galicia, where he spent three days in a seaside resort. He plans to visit Spain again in about three weeks and hopes it will receive less attention from politicians and the media then.
According to Spanish media, the current four-day visit was arranged with difficulty and after lengthy negotiations. It also created tension between the former king and his son Felipe and between the government and the royal family. On Sunday, around 300 people demonstrated in Madrid against the visit of Juan Carlos. The demonstrators demanded that he be prosecuted.
Juan Carlos ruled Spain from 1975 to 2014. He retired as head of state for health reasons, but officially retained his title as King of Spain. He left without warning abroad in the summer of 2020. He happened to be the guest of his friend Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and leader of the United Arab Emirates.
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