King Juan Carlos seems to have heard the voices that asked for discretion on this second trip to Spain since he left the country in August 2020. The Emeritus arrived in Sanxenxo yesterday with the apparent purpose of making amends and in the midst of a silence from his relatives that contrasts with his first stay in the Rías Baixas eleven months ago.
Only the air registry confirmed that the father of Felipe VI would take a plane in London after ten in the morning to return to the Vigo-Peinador airport. On this occasion, Mr. Juan Carlos traveled in a Bombardier Global 5000 model, a medium-sized aircraft with capacity for between 8 and 19 passengers. The aircraft belongs to the Royal Jet company, which operates in Abu Dhabi, and is the same one with which he made the journey from the Emirates to London last Sunday. This time the aircraft is not registered in Aruba, as in 2022, but in the country of which it is a resident.
From early in the morning there was press in the surroundings of Peinador. Thus, there could be more than a dozen media stationed at the exit of the airport authorities, also on a hill in front of the landing strip. Even some television programs had sent journalists on different flights in case any of them coincided with the Infanta Doña Elena, who received her father a year ago. However, no family member or friend from Madrid attended, unlike last year.
At noon and when the sun finally warmed up on the esplanade in front of the runway, a dog from the National Police Dog Unit combed the area around the airport, cars from the Civil Guard and the National Police arrived. All the security device was consummated with the appearance of four cars from the Zarzuela team and Pedro Campos, who chose to sit in the back of a Mercedes SUV. Campos went unnoticed and during the hour and a half that remained until the landing of Don Juan Carlos he did not let himself be seen.
After 41 minutes after one in the afternoon, the Emeritus’ plane touched down. The Casa Real security vehicles were positioned in front of the plane’s stairs, through which the Emeritus would descend. Dressed in a yellow vest, among them was Pedro Campos. Don Juan Carlos got off the plane accompanied by his two trusted escorts and walked directly to Pedro Campos’s car, leaning on a cane, without greetings or greetings. He took the passenger seat and Campos got behind the wheel. Don Juan Carlos, with a serious and tired face, raised his right hand to greet the press, but this time he did not roll down the window and his vehicle continued on its way to Nanín beach, to Campos’s house. The same image was repeated in the owner’s house: greeting the press but without stopping. This gesture is already a notable change, since in his previous visit Don Juan Carlos was accessible from the first moment.
A van from the Piliña Fish Market, from Portonovo, had arrived as far as Campos’s house. It is a Rias Baixas brand of which Pedro Campos has been a loyal customer for years. EL MUNDO learned that they had brought fresh, top-quality fish and seafood, although it is unknown if it was part of the lunch or dinner menu. Because in the path of discretion of this first day, Don Juan Carlos planned to stay at his host’s house all day. And so it was, he didn’t come out at all.
Don Juan Carlos has come to Spain in a unilateral decision that he did not communicate to Zarzuela, who found out through EL MUNDO. The Emeritus was summoned to come in June, once the elections had passed, however, he preferred to return now without asking the opinion of the Head of State, his son. To avoid doing politics with his figure, even the mayor of Sanxenxo, Telmo Martín, is more restrained than last year, when an official welcome was organized at the Real Club Náutico.
This Thursday, Juan Carlos I wants to return to the Náutico where he found refuge after withdrawing from public life in 2019. It is unknown if he will embark today. El Bribón is moored at the end of the harbor breakwater, freshly painted and washed. However, perhaps he will only have one meeting with his team at Náutico and not train until Friday.
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