The memoir book of King Juan Carlos I, father of the current Spanish monarch, Felipe VI, titled 'Reconciliation', has sold over 40,000 copies in five days, with four editions in a week. It was published in Spain on December 3rd, almost a month after its release in France.
In this book, 87-year-old Juan Carlos I, from his retirement in Abu Dhabi, claims his 'democratic heritage' for Spain, a country he longs for and would like to return to when half a century of the parliamentary monarchy has passed.
The book is dedicated to his family (except for Queen Letizia) and to all those who accompanied him in the democratic transition; in the introduction, he explains his decision to write his memoirs because he feels that his story has been 'stolen' from him.
This Thursday, it was also announced that Juan Carlos I's former son-in-law and the current Spanish monarch's brother-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarín, who spent four years in prison after being convicted of corruption, will also publish his memoirs on February 12th under the title 'Everything Lived'.
Memoirs narrated in the first person by Juan Carlos I, whose content has already filled the pages of newspapers and hours of discussions on Spanish radio and television since the French edition was released on November 5th.
However, after decades of popularity, the former monarch left Spain in 2020 following several scandals over his extramarital affairs and his assets abroad.
The former head of state is considered one of the architects of Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco (1975), who named him as his successor.
Following its publication in France, Juan Carlos I gave several interviews to French newspapers and to the TV channel France 3, in which he acknowledged that he made 'mistakes', but said he does not regret his past and has no remorse or tries 'not to have any', although if he could go back, he would be more careful.
And although he says he has made 'mistakes' and that he is 'not a saint', he defends his legacy to a country to which he arrived at just 10 years old (his family lived in Portugal, where they were in exile) to be mentored by Franco, for whom he does not hide his sympathy.
The publisher Planeta announced on Thursday the first sales figures for the book, which it considers to be 'historic figures for a book that is in itself a historic event'.
