The Spanish court announced today that King Juan Carlos will retire from official duties on June 2. He abdicated in favor of his son, Felipe, on June 19, 2014.
He sent a letter to his son, King Felipe V.
"Majesty, dear Felipe:
Throughout these last years, since my abdication from the Spanish Crown on June 2, 2014, I have been developing institutional activities with the same zeal for service to Spain and the Crown that inspired my reign. Now, when almost five years have passed since that date, I believe that the time has come to pass a new page in my life and to complete my withdrawal from public life.
Since last year, when I celebrated my 80th birthday, I have been maturing this idea, which was reaffirmed on the occasion of the unforgettable commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of our Constitution in the Cortes Generales. A solemn act, full of emotion for me, that made me evoke, with pride and admiration, the memory of so many people who contributed to make possible the political Transition and renew my feeling of permanent gratitude towards the Spanish people, true architect and main protagonist of that transcendental stage of our recent history.
With a firm and thoughtful conviction, today I express my desire and desire to take this step and stop developing institutional activities, starting next June 2. I take this decision from the great affection and pride of a father that for you I feel, with my loyalty always.
A huge hug from your father. "
(Google translation)
According to the officials, Juan Carlos is not retiring due to health reasons.
Queen Sofia will continue to carry out official duties.
http://www.casareal.es/ES/AreaPrensa/Paginas/area_prensa_comunicados_interior.aspx?data=108
I know your crystal ball doesn't work anymore, but if you had to guess would you think he'd step down to a lower title like HRH The Count of ______?
ReplyDeleteNo .. he is not the sovereign. He will remain King Juan Carlos. He's retiring.
ReplyDeleteUnderstood that he's not the sovereign, but was wondering if he would take a lower title since he hasn't been THE king in years. I wonder why he, and Belgium, and The Pope, did not take lower titles in order to avoid the confusion of two people with same title, even though one is retired and one is reigning. At least in the case of multiple living queen consorts, one could be the dowager queen and one could be THE queen. I like how the Dutch sovereigns chose to revert to HRH Princess___ following their abdications, or how in Qatar they refer to Hamid bin Khalifa as "HH The Father Emir" which sounds so respectful to his former position.
ReplyDeleteFelipe is The KIng of Spain
ReplyDeleteJuan Carlos is now King Juan Carlos
Philippe is the KIng of the Belgians
Albert is King Albert
In Spain we don't have any confusion with the two kings, when someone says the King we all know that is Felipe VI and if someone want to refer to Don Juan Carlos is always referred as King Juan Carlos. The same with the queen's. Once a king always a king, it would be very strange for us to refer to King Don Juan Carlos and Queen doña Sofía with another title. For a big part of the Spanish society they have always been our king and queen.
ReplyDeleteOne could say the same for the Dutch queens, Fulco. Yet they reverted to princess status on their own accord.
ReplyDeleteIf you like how the Dutch sovereign's make it is a personal opinion. Each country make things in their way, if the Dutch sovereign's reverted to a lower status doesn't mean that the Spanish or Belgians have to do the same. Each country have different rules and different traditions. There isn't any problem with the tittle of Don Juan Carlos and even he retires from public life, he'll be king for the rest of his life. When he abdicated the government announced that he'll remain as king for the rest of his life.
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