King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia's Marriage

Stefan said:

I meant those marriages whore are really long with 60+ years. There have been many with big downs like the late Count and Countess of Paris, Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard, King Albert II. and Queen Paola, the Count and Countess of Barcelona etc. Compared to those the marriages of Beatrix and Claus and of Baudouin and Fabiola have been short (which they of course they were not)

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Albert and Paola reconciled 40 years ago or more, and have had a happy marriage by all accounts since then, so a bit different from the other couples you mention, I think

Queen Claude said:

Perhaps it was performative, but from the photos I have seen, Juan Carlos seemed quite smitten on his wedding day.

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I've read the opposite about the wedding. Sofia was very upset and in tears during the ceremony, and he didn't even look at her. Irene got up at some point to comfort her and hand her a tissue.

Hans-Rickard said:

I belive Queen Sofia’s view on marriage is very ”old school” and that she is simply a production of her generation and regards divorces as ”something you shouldn’t do regardless of what your husband does to you”

It is sad really but what else could there be the reason for her not leaving him, and finding a man who would treat her with respect ?

She knew there was no chance she could ”win” a legal custody fight about the children… Maybe about Elena and Cristina but no way she would be getting custody of Felipe.

And they both had a lot to loose on a divorce… JC may not even had been allowed tp succeed Franco then… And by seeing how successfully he has managed to bully and threat all his mistress’ into silence over the years, with a lot of help from the spanish authorities, Queen Sofia would probably have got an even bigger hell then….

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I believe it is still true today - what would a divorced consort gain? Of course housing and enough money to have a carefree life but no role, constant attention of the press - almost impossible for CP/Monarch couple to divorce with kids still being minors, still difficult with adult kids. As in Sofias case - society was different back then - even today, it would be the consort who loses out on almost everything, not the born royal. Apart from the time they have devoted and invitest, they lose role, circle of friends, children are torn, wont get privacy back - my point is, even today, with cheating frowned upon by society, I would think not once but many, many times before pulling the plug if I was the consort in a royal marriage.

kalnel said:

I've read the opposite about the wedding. Sofia was very upset and in tears during the ceremony, and he didn't even look at her. Irene got up at some point to comfort her and hand her a tissue.

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I don't recall reading anything about the wedding one way or another other than it was in Greece, I am going by the photos. Was it reported that Sofia's tears were due to doubts she had about being married to JC? Was she bullied / pressured / coerced?

Queen Friederike mentioned about the Wedding in her Memories that on the Day the entire Family took tranquilizers as they were so nervous.
And also that meet the Couple again a few days later before they left to Spain, which she thought was wrong.

Marengo said:

Above it is suggested that it was a marriage of convenience for JC. Is it known if Sofia felt the same way or was she actually in love? As BR pointed out the King does say he was not forced into the marriage. I imagine neither was Sofia.

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I have been reading van der Kiste’s history of the Spanish monarchy from Isabel II to JC, A Divided Kingdom, and there are two surprisingly sweet and somewhat telling moments about him and Sofia.

• that when they met on the Agammemnon, she told him she was studying judo… he said it would be of no use to her… she asked him for his hand… he gave it. She threw him to the ground.
• And then a few years later at the 1960 Olympics, he had a mustache… Sofia thought he looked horrible with it; he said he didn’t see what he could do about it. She took him in the nearest bathroom, sat him down, put a towel around his neck, and shaved him.

Romance novel stuff. It’s crystal-clear he liked “Sophie’s” strong will and decisive personality very much (among the other things he liked), and despite being rather sick of being a ping-pong ball who had to obey his father and Franco, he obviously found the fact she wasn’t some fragile flower (or as docile as he had to pretend to be, I guess) very attractive.

I think they were in love, but the conditions that led to JC’s rather fractured personality would have driven just about anyone nuts, and his coping method of hot-and-cold running mistresses would have driven any woman to retreat for her own sake.

My belief is that Queen Sofia is from a generation of men and women who believe that wedding vows are for life. Especially vows taken in church .

There is no part of the Christian marital contract which states " I am married until you cheat. Or until I am no longer in love, happy, fulfilled etc. Then I have a right to peace outta here."

That is the attitude with which a majority of people, both Royal and commoner, enter the marital union today.

Sonia, Elizabeth II, Juliana, Anne Marie, Margrethe..all of them had a very Christian view of marital vows vs.a modern one which puts personal fulfillment above sacrifice.

I don't see it as "sad". I admire people like that.

Linda_26 said:

The pictures of the two of them kissing each other (taken in 1994 by Barbara Rey's then 13-year-old son) were published recently by the Dutch magazine Privé:
Salen a la luz las fotos del rey Juan Carlos y Bárbara Rey besándose | El Correo

And the recording where Juan Carlos talks about his marriage is apparently also from 1994, here's a part of it:
Juan Carlos sobre la Reina Sofía: "No estamos juntos desde que nació Felipe, vida familiar, ninguna"

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I'm listening to the recording and can't believe he has the nerve to say the Queen is behaving a bit "cabreada" which means piss*d off. He mentions they are at a point there's not even a conversation between them the way he speaks to his mistress. The irony is that he states he is the one that doesn't want to have talks with his wife despite her insisting on it.

Excerpt:

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On a related note, any relation with the former king also proved to be deadly for another woman already:

The tragic death of Sandra Mozarowsky, alleged lover of King Juan Carlos, will be told in a film
Excerpt:

I have always felt really vey sorry for Sofia. I know some look down on her for staying with a cheater but IMO she had very little choice. She was the daughter of a RF with enough issues of their own (5 years after her wedding the military coup took place). For the first 13 years Franco was about grooming JC for his heir and thus a divorce would have been out the question. Then by the time divorce was probably even a semi-viable option she was the mother of a future King of Spain and knew divorce would mean leaving her children, a role she had made her own and a position that brought security and protection when her brother was in exile. At the end of the day her choice was - give up everything she had achieved and watch herself be replaced by another wife of JC in time - or shallow her pride and stay close to her children and work hard in her role as consort.

Duke of Marmalade said:

I believe it is still true today - what would a divorced consort gain? Of course housing and enough money to have a carefree life but no role, constant attention of the press - almost impossible for CP/Monarch couple to divorce with kids still being minors, still difficult with adult kids. As in Sofias case - society was different back then - even today, it would be the consort who loses out on almost everything, not the born royal. Apart from the time they have devoted and invitest, they lose role, circle of friends, children are torn, wont get privacy back - my point is, even today, with cheating frowned upon by society, I would think not once but many, many times before pulling the plug if I was the consort in a royal marriage.

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Probably yes…The road to divorce for monarch and spouse + heir and spouse is longer than for others…

No doubt the spouse would be well provided for with a nice big house, car, assistance, security, money, and no doubt they would do their utmost to cooperate about the children….

But still you would most likely have to spend the rest of your life dancing after what the royal court of wich you are no longer a part, tells you…

I understand if people in those situations would be thinking both once and twice before they decides to proceed with any divorce papers

I’m also just going to venture that given how badly JC ruptured his relationship with his parents due to his own fault on a tragic level, maybe he feels similarly about destroying his marriage and disappointing Sofia due to subsequent faults?

He treats all three with a similar “respect”/humility/admiration… or at least he knows he’s the screw-up.

Yes...I agree. For years even before he abdicated I have always viewed JC as essentially a figure of tragedy.

I agree with comments saying Sofia likely had and maybe still has a very Catholic, old school view on marriage. Perhaps even more important, and intriguing, is to consider how her marriage into a fragile monarchy, where she's Queen, and the impact of the instability of her father's reign and her brother’s exile shaped her perspective. I wonder how these experiences affected her understanding of the precariousness of royalty. I think she's from a bygone era where to be a princess is to be duty bound, and pragmatic. Faced with the circumstances of her background and the political environment in Spain when she married, she likely developed a keen awareness of how any disruption in her marriage could threaten an already unstable, new regime.

In this sense, I think she's an old school true royal—one who carefully balances personal interests with the greater need for dynastic preservation. I can imagine that she was focused on securing the monarchy for the family she married into, and especially for her son, and that she was deeply committed to ensuring the continuity and stability of the throne, shaped by her unique experience with political fragility.

Moonmaiden23 said:

Yes...I agree. For years even before he abdicated I have always viewed JC as essentially a figure of tragedy.

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My feelings of sympathy quickly evaporated following the revelations of his antics with numerous ladies of the night and the subsequent hunting trips.

I've wondered if Sophia stayed for reasons related to the Greek royals. Irene lived in the palace for years, so leaving Juan Carlos would have meant uprooting her.
Constantine always declined to say who/what helped fund his life post-coup -- but he did mention receiving gifts of clothing and other things from Juan Carlos -- so maybe Juan Carlos was paying him. Had Sophia left, her brother's funding might have dried up.

They seem to have come to some kind of understanding relatively early in their marriage. Unlike for example Caroline and Ernst-August who I haven't seen together in public for ages, they still do attend (mostly family-related) events together and always seem cordial towards each other.

The so many Royal Guests descending the Royal Staircase are the best royal jewels pictures , ever.

One has to remember that a married woman in Spain had very few rights in Francoist Spain. Married women could neither work nor own property without the permission of her husband. They could be sent to prison for adultery or abandoning their husbands. Until 1963 a husband who killed his wife after catching her in the act of committing adultery was only symbolically punished and he could also give their children up for adoption without her permission until 1971. Divorce wasn't legalised until 1981. Legal restraints and family pressure together made a divorce for Sofia and Juan Carlos impossible.

The transcript to the conversation between Juan Carlos and Barbara Rey is revealing. By the way it does look like Barbara Rey is asking leading questions to get Juan Carlos to talk about his marriage.

If I understand correctly*, Sofia wanted to work on their marriage at the time this recording was made. To put it in perspective, the recording happened in 1994, Juan Carlos and Sofia got married in 1962 and Felipe was born in 1968. It was shortly after Felipe's birth that they stopped being "together", so Sofia is trying to, in the timeframe of the recording, reconnect with her husband. Who knows if this has been ongoing for the 26 years since Felipe's birth or these reconnection attempts happened in phases, I hope the latter.

I am struck by how adamant Juan Carlos is about not even trying to have a relationship with Sofia, he does not even want to have conversations with her. If I am understanding correctly, they spend no time together except in the summer, but even then they still are separate. I think that what he is saying is that summer is when the family gathers - Juan Carlos, Sofia, their children, grandchildren, guests and that they are in closer proximity than normal but still are separated. His position seems to be that Sofia is a very good person and Queen but he is admittedly too selfish to modify a situation he finds "very comfortable".

* My uncertainty is due to me reading an auto-translated version of the conversation.

Reposting a link to the article that @Linda_26 posted a few days ago.

There were no grandchildren in 1994. Elena only got married in March 1995 and her son wasn't born until July 1998.

It makes perfect sense that JC married an old school royal trouper who would go through hell with him on the professional level and provide him with an heir, unfortunately for him only the 3rd attempt was the crucial boy. It may sound a bit extreme but I believe this is more or less the truth. The motivation to marry was not love as JC had been a ladies man all his life, and it was accepted by society to have such a relationship. Perhaps there was hope that fatherhood and working for Spain in difficult, sometimes life threatening conditions would turn him around on the personal level but it didnt. Sofia made the best out of the situation, another poster mentionend the support for her greek family what will have played a role, her children, guiding Felipe to the throne, her own respected role as Queen and well financed social live behind the scenes ... divorcing JC would have been a total desaster, personally and professionally.

Images taken by the son of King Juan Carlos's ex mistress 'who covertly photographed their liaison before his mother filmed secret sex tape for royal blackmail plot'​

Duke of Marmalade said:

Son of Spanish king's ex 'made to record liaison with royal'

Shocking images taken by the son of a former mistress of Spain's King Juan Carlos showing her apparently seducing the royal in order to blackmail him have been revealed for the first time.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Images taken by the son of King Juan Carlos's ex mistress 'who covertly photographed their liaison before his mother filmed secret sex tape for royal blackmail plot'​

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I had a feeling that the can of worms would be opened as soon as he announced his memoirs!