• Culture Vargas Llosa, upon entering the French Academy: "Literature needs freedom to exist"

  • Ceremony The King, Infanta Cristina and his ex-wife Patricia, first row of witnesses to the historic moment of Vargas Llosa

King Emeritus Juan Carlos I has been received in Paris these days almost with honors and also with a hectic schedule.

If on Thursday he participated in the entrance ceremony to the French Academy of the writer Mario Vargas Llosa, this Friday he will have dinner at the Élysée with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has invited him to the evening together with the Nobel Prize winner and fellow writer

Javier fences

.

The one who has revealed the appointment is the son of the newly released academic,

Álvaro Vargas Llosa

, who almost since they landed in Paris has been narrating his father's agenda on Twitter.

It has also been confirmed by the writer Javier Cercas.

"Tonight there is a dinner for four at the Elysee: Juan Carlos I, Vargas Llosa and myself," he confirmed to the AFP agency.

The Élysée does not confirm the information as it is the private agenda of President Macron, and not a public act.

The appointment, in fact, does not appear on his official agenda.

"Macron has a very high concept of the King, and that is no exception in France or anywhere, as far as I know. That's why he invited him," Javier Cercas told the aforementioned news agency.

"I am not going with any prejudice, and I hope that dinner will be very pleasant," he warned.

Álvaro Vargas Llosa also added a recognition to the emeritus on Twitter: "Thank you for what you have done for Spain. No one with even the slightest knowledge of the role you have played for Spain to be a European liberal democracy can fail to acknowledge it. Macron, that the invited to dinner, he also recognizes it", he said.

warm welcome

The emeritus king arrived in Paris on Wednesday with his daughter, the

Infanta Cristina

, who also accompanied him to the ceremony at the French Academy.

Juan Carlos I arrived just a few minutes before the Spanish-Peruvian writer, accompanied by his daughter, and received a warm welcome at the Academy.

He not only received applause from some of the attendees who were already in the amphitheater, but many also came up to greet him.

The first thing Vargas Llosa did upon entering the room (the first to do so, followed by the other 39 academics) was to greet Juan Carlos, with whom he has been friends for years and who followed his speech in the front row.

At the end of the event, some journalists asked him how he was and if he intended to return to Spain soon, to which the emeritus replied "surely."

At all times he was accompanied by Cristina de Borbón.

It is unknown when he will return to Abu Dhabi, where he has resided since 2020. Diplomatic sources indicate that his agenda in Paris is completely private and that the embassy is only providing assistance in the field of security.

She has not resided in the embassy, ​​for example.

"I think the king had to be recognized, in an effective way, how recognized we Spaniards are for the freedom we enjoy today," Mario Vargas Llosa told reporters at the end of the ceremony at the French Academy.

In the neighboring country there is a good image of the monarch and the role he played during his reign is recognized.

The French press highlights the role of Juan Carlos I "from 1975, after the death of the dictator

Franco

. He has been a major figure on the international scene, welcomed and respected for decades, for having helped the return of democracy in Spain".

"His popularity collapsed after several personal scandals, including an extramarital affair and revelations about his way of life," detailed the press.

This trip to Paris is the third for the former monarch after his exile from Abu Dhabi in 2020 (the second in less than a month), from where he has left on very few occasions since then.

He traveled in September to the funeral of the Queen of England and also traveled to Athens to attend those of former King

Constantine II

of Greece in January.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Paris

  • Juan Carlos I

  • Infanta Cristina de Bourbon

  • Mario Vargas Llosa

  • France

  • Emmanuel Macron

  • Articles Raquel Villaecija