• Royals The poor representation at King Constantine's funeral of the British royal family that continues to make the rest of the dynasties ugly

  • Monarchy The funeral of King Constantine, a dilemma for the Government of the Greek Republic

  • Obituary Constantine of Greece, the king who paid with the crown for his serious mistakes

It was inevitable that much of the spotlight at the funeral in Athens for Constantine II would rest on King Juan Carlos.

But finally the Emeritus had an excessive role.

On the one hand, the photograph released by the Casa del Rey -which has generated so much discomfort among those closest to Don Juan Carlos- in which he was seen advancing almost crawling on the dusty road to the Tatoi royal cemetery, has reopened the Discuss your health.

And, on the other, the images of

his son's affectionate farewell to

him have fueled all kinds of speculation about their relationship.

It was not in the script for that moment to be broadcast.

Don Felipe and Doña Letizia met him again on Sunday during the welcome dinner that the Greek royal family offered to members of different dynasties present in Athens for the obsequies of the last king of the Hellenes in the restaurant of the luxurious Grande Bretagne hotel.

Inside, without cameras, Don Felipe greeted his father with all his affection.

Relations have been much more fluid since May, after the meeting in Zarzuela in which the son read the primer to the father;

Their telephone communications -after a period without speaking- are habitual and, strictly personal,

one can speak of a reconciliation

.

But the Kings want to preserve an image of distance with the Emeritus, since they consider that there are still too many fringes that can harm the Crown.

And, thus, everything happened in Athens in a way in which images of Don Felipe and the Emeritus together could not be captured.

While it is true that the sons of Constantine II organized the funeral in the Metropolitan Cathedral maintaining lines of protocol such as sitting the reigning monarchs or heads of dynasties in prevalent positions, separated from other members of royalty, the fact that they did not mix the current holder of the Crown with his father at the arrival or

departure of the religious service was deliberate

.

Other royal families that did not need to dodge any photo, such as the Dutch or the Danish, did so without problem.

Don Felipe said goodbye with affection to his father once the burial of Constantino IIE.M.

Zarzuela's strategy came out almost perfect.

And on Monday afternoon he posted a photo with all the messages he wanted to send.

The two Queens united, well reconciled, together with Don Felipe.

And, far behind, a Don Juan Carlos standing up with difficulty on that metaphorical Road to Calvary in which he suffers for his sins.

It should be noted that journalists could not access the Tatoi compound.

That is why Zarzuela had this monopoly of images.

But the avalanche of people was such that the forecasts and police measures overflowed.

And this allowed someone to capture videos like the one of the farewell of the two Kings that were supplied to a private Greek television.

So things haven't changed yet.

In the crossfire of factions, many insist that the time has come for Don Juan Carlos to return to reside in Spain and he puts the ball in Zarzuela's roof in a compromising way.

Even the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, has been forced to speak again this week, saying that the Emeritus "

has no open cases and can return

whenever he wants" and even stressing that "in fact he returned a few days".

INTERESTED INFORMATION

There are too many crossings of interested information.

But it does not seem that the will of King Juan Carlos himself is to return to Spain permanently, another thing is that he does want to be able to come on frequent visits.

He is interested in maintaining his residence in the Emirates.

On the one hand,

he is aware of the damage caused to his son

by media overexposure.

There is no week in which controversial episodes of his reign are on the news front line.

Now, without going any further, the adventures of Bárbara Rey, who begins to put an end to her silence.

But economic issues weigh heavily.

All Treasury inquiries are closed.

However, its patrimonial situation is a black hole.

In February 2021, his lawyers presented the documentation by which a dozen business friends would have lent him

almost 4.5 million euros

to pay off the tax debt he had for benefiting from the Zagatka foundation.

From there, the maintenance of his way of life - including travel in very expensive private jets like the one that would also have taken him to Athens - is a mystery to the general public.

Don Juan Carlos, who has just turned 85, suffers from such serious mobility problems -his knees are destroyed- that he surely thinks a lot about that possibility that terrifies him so much of having to use a wheelchair one day.

But, for the rest, from his environment they assure that his health is excellent.

A disease, in fact, would be something that in Zarzuela would make them rethink the stage.

"Dying in exile must be the worst thing that can happen to a man

," Don Juan Carlos told his biographer José Luis de Villalonga in his day.

It is not so clear that today he thinks exactly the same.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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