The death of Elizabeth II has raised an unknown and potentially embarrassing question: among the many world leaders and well-known figures expected at the British monarch's funeral, will the Spanish king emeritus, Juan Carlos I, be present? This Friday, the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, ruled out the possibility of the former king of Spain going to Queen Elizabeth II's funeral, as he has said that king Felipe VI is currently "the head of the Spanish state", although the decision will be taken jointly by the Royal House and the Spanish government. The king emeritus currently lives in Abu Dhabi, a city to which he fled in the summer of 2020, amid a series of scandals about his financial affairs. Since then, he has only returned to set foot on Spanish soil once, in May of this year.
In an interview with Spanish public broadcaster RNE, Albares commented that no details are yet known about the state funeral to be held in London for Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday at the age of 96, so "it is not appropriate to speculate" about the Spanish representation. However, asked directly about whether the king emeritus will be there, he said that the decision will be made jointly by the Royal House and the Spanish government once they learn the details of the funeral arrangements from the British authorities, although he essentially ruled out this possibility. "We do not know any details. As is always done in these cases, the Spanish government with the Royal House will decide the best representation. We have a head of state who is Felipe VI," he declared.
The kinship between the two royal families
In addition, he emphasized that "it is very clear who the Spanish head of state is" and pointed out that the current king Felipe VI "also represents the family ties" between the Spanish and British royal houses, who are genealogically connected by Queen Victoria: both Juan Carlos I and his wife Sofia are great-great-children of the 19th century British monarch, which is precisely the relationship that both Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh also had with Victoria Regina. Albares hopes that the Spanish government will continue to have "the closest possible relationship" with the United Kingdom after the death of Elizabeth II, as he ensures that it remains "a very important country for Europe" after its departure from the European Union, especially in matters of security.
He also highlighted the "huge colony" of British citizens residing in Spain, around 400,000, and the number of Spaniards living in the UK as another reason to maintain "the best commercial and individual relations". However, he has recognized that this "relationship model" between the United Kingdom and Spain "has no place" in Gibraltar after Brexit, and that is why the Spanish government continues to "dialogue and negotiate to find a fit" and that this enclave under British rule "be a zone of shared prosperity".