Former King Juan Carlos Reunites with His Son King Felipe For the First Time in 2 Years

After two years in self-imposed exile, former Spanish king Juan Carlos returned to Spain for a brief, five day visit. On the last day of the visit, he made a visit to the Zarzuela royal palace in Madrid to visit his son, the current King Felipe VI, and other members of his family.

At the Zarzuela palace, the two reportedly had a long conversation. In a statement following Juan Carlos's return to the UAE, the royal palace said, "His Majesty The King and Don Juan Carlos have had a long conversation about family issues as well as about different events and their consequences on Spanish society since the King's father decided to move to Abu Dhabi on August 3, 2020."

After the conversation, the two joined other members of the royal family for lunch. Per the royal palace, it was attended by Queen Letizia, Infanta Doña Elena and her children, Infanta Doña Margarita, and Don Carlos Zurita. Queen Sofia, Juan Carlos's wife, was at lunch but remained masked after testing positive for COVID following a trip to Miami.

Juan Carlos left the country for self-imposed exile in August 2020 amidst alleged financial misconduct, and this was his first trip back to Spain after the investigation was dropped in March of this year.

After news of the formal end to the investigations was made public, Juan Carlos wrote, "It seems appropriate to consider my return to Spain, although not immediately. I prefer, at this time, for reasons that belong to my private sphere and that only affect me, to continue residing permanently and stable in Abu Dhabi, where I have found peace of mind, especially for this period of my life."

During his two years in the United Arab Emirates, his two daughters visited him, but his son, Felipe, did not. The former king plans to make more return trips to Spain in the future.

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