Spain’s controversial former king Juan Carlos is back in Abu Dhabi after a seven-day home visit. The private jet “Royal Jet 22” with the ex-monarch on board landed in the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday evening, as reported by Spanish media, citing the online flight tracker Flightaware, among other things.
The 85-year-old father of King Felipe VI lives in Abu Dhabi. in exile for over two and a half years. The second home visit since leaving Spain was much quieter and more discreet than the first in May last year. This time Juan Carlos didn’t make a single statement. In addition, the media hype was much less this time. As far as is known, no meeting with Felipe (55), wife Sofía (84) or other royals was planned.
Juan Carlos was in the port city of Sanxenxo in northwestern Spain between Wednesday and Sunday. There he stayed with a close friend. Because of the bad weather, he was unable to take part in a regatta off the coast of the Galicia region on board his boat “Bribón” as planned at the weekend. He then flew to Vitoria on Sunday evening. In the capital of the Spanish Basque country, he visited doctors he trusted, among other things, reported the state TV broadcaster RTVE.
In the spring of 2022, all criminal investigations into financial irregularities against Juan Carlos were dropped in Spain. It was therefore assumed that the Bourbon, who was head of state of Spain for almost four decades until his abdication in June 2014, would visit his homeland more often and eventually return for good.
But a lot went wrong on the first home visit. It was not only the media hype that caused unease among the royal family and the government at the time. Juan Carlos’ behavior was criticized as “immodest”. The government said at the time that he had “missed the chance” to ask the citizens for forgiveness and to explain himself.
