It's just over two weeks until a date long marked in the calendar of Spain's Zarzuela palace: the 80th birthday of king emeritus Juan Carlos I. The celebration is reportedly becoming a headache for the royal family, with Felipe VI against his father's ostentatious birthday plans (link in Catalan).
The former king would like a public homage, something both his son and prime minister Rajoy disagree with. The journalist Pilar Eyre confessed so much in an exclusive interview with El Nacional's En Blau (link in Catalan): "Juan Carlos is currently sad because he'll turn 80 in January and his friends are calling me to put pressure on and for there to be a public celebration. They're telling me that he'd be very excited."
Juan Carlos would like a large celebration like the one Norway held for king Harald for his 80th birthday last May. Do you believe, however, that it's feasible for Spain to imitate the image of the whole family joined together and dressed up (including queen Sofia, of course) making a speech from the balcony to a passionate crowd? Is it realistic to imagine them at a great table with the king blowing out candles surrounded by his grandchildren?
The distance between the king and queen emeritus is already scandalous; they don't even appear together on their official Christmas card (link in Catalan). It's hard to imagine Sofia intervening for a state homage to be organised, however much pressure is put on her.
EFE
Now, it seems that some of the media would be in favour of such a large-scale celebration. Juan Carlos I headlined this week's Sunday magazine from Spanish newspaper El País, in a report on the new royal throne: the boat with which he takes part in regattas in Sanxerxo (Galicia). A very friendly interview in which the former king insinuates that he would have mediated in the Catalan independence process, as he did during Spain's transition to democracy after the Franco dictatorship. Many applaud the role he played at that time, using it to argue for an homage whilst he's still in relatively good health.
Will he get it? Will he be honoured like he wants or will the bad name of the Spanish monarchy at the moment weigh too heavily?