King Juan Carlos of Spain is setting the record straight when it comes to his relationship with Princess Diana. The 87-year-old former king of Spain—whose son, King Felipe, is the country's current monarch—wrote a new memoir titled Reconciliation, which will be published in France next week. In the tell-all book, the self-exiled former monarch denies having an affair with Princess Diana, claiming that the late royal was the opposite of a lover in his mind.
"Cold, taciturn, distant, except in the presence of the paparazzi," is how the former king—and known womanizer—described Diana in the book, per the Telegraph.
The princess didn't seem to be a fan of Juan Carlos herself. "I felt uncomfortable being left alone with him in a room, although I can assure you that nothing happened," she told friends, per Andrew Morton's book, Ladies of Spain. Morton also claimed that Diana called the Spanish royal "a very libidinous man."
Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Prince Harry and Prince William spent the summers of 1986 through 1988 with the Spanish royal family at Marivent Palace in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and also enjoyed time on King Juan Carlos's yacht in August 1990. It was during this time period that affair rumors about Diana and the then-king of Spain began circulating.
Juan Carlos "is reputed to have had relations with dozens of women outside of his marriage," per the Telegraph, but is still married to his wife, Queen Sofia. However, the pair live in different countries and lead completely separate lives, with Juan Carlos living in self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates and Queen Sofia continuing to live at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid.
Sofia is occasionally seen during royal engagements with King Felipe and his wife, Queen Letizia, like the Princess of Asturias awards, which Queen Sofia attended alongside her granddaughters last week.
The former king of Spain abdicated his throne in 2014 and in 2020, moved to Abu Dhabi amid a financial scandal that ended with him paying $4.9 million in back taxes, per Reuters.
