Emeritus King of Spain Juan Carlos I retires from institutional life

USPA NEWS - Next Sunday, June 2, the Emeritus King of Spain, Juan Carlos I de Bourbon, will totally and definitively abandon his institutional life. Although the Spanish Royal House has not provided information on the reasons that lead the monarch to withdraw from public life, several specialists point out that health reasons may have led King Juan Carlos to make this decision on such a marked date: on Sunday he have been five years since their abdication.

The Emeritus King addressed this week a letter to his son, the current King Felipe VI, in which he recalled that "over the last few years, since my abdication from the Spanish Crown on June 2, 2014, I have been developing institutional activities with the same zeal of service to Spain and the Crown that inspired my reign." He adds: "Now, when almost five years have passed since that date, I think the time has come to pass a new page in my life and complete my withdrawal from public life."

King Juan Carlos had been meditating his retirement from public life for a year. He himself recognizes it in the letter sent to his son, King Felipe VI, when he states that, "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 Spanish Parliament. A solemn act," continues the monarch, "full of emotion for me, which 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 his withdrawal from institutional life, King Juan Carlos I of Spain definitively closes a stage in the history of Spain and cedes the Crown's total prominence to the current monarch, Felipe VI. The withdrawal does not affect Queen Emerita Sofia of Greece, who will continue to represent the Crown in outstanding institutional acts.