Juan Carlos’s Extra Marital Affairs and the Impact on His Public Image
I’m interested about the impact the rumours and gossip have had on Juan Carlos’s public image as a man and as a king, both positive and negative. Although there doubtless has been exaggeration and distortion regarding what’s been happening, its hard to deny that these stories have had an impact on his image.
I’ve been meaning to set this thread for a while, actually. Since we really don’t know for certain what’s been happening this thread isn’t about listing JC’s sexual partners and encounters, JC and Sofia’s marriage is covered elsewhere on a different thread along with the paternity claims against him.
I would argue that in the beginning when JC was at the peak of his popularity and prestige in the late 80s early 90s it wasn’t a problem and in fact in the eyes of some (but not me) added a pleasing aura of virility to his image - compare and contrast to the pillory and ridicule that was being heaped on the Prince of Wales in the same time period.
However, I would argue that it has become a negative in the long run for four reasons:
1) changing attidies to women and relationships in Spanish culture - Spain seems to be having something of a “#MeToo” thing at the moment, and what on the surface looks like an attempt to revive droit du seigneur doesn’t mesh with that. JC often said he wanted to be “King of all Spaniards” - he seems to overlook the fact that women are Spaniards as well.
2) the fact that JC himself cultivated a “clean hands” image as part of being king and that Sofia was a major part of his public image as well - again the old hypocrisy thing rearing its head again.
3) it makes him look, rightly or wrongly, like his lecherous narcissistic grandfather Alfonso XIII. The rift between Alfonso and Ena, and the court factionalism that accompanied it, was another big factor in the collapse of the Spanish monarchy in the 1930s along with allegations of emblezzlement and political meddling. As I've said before, JC should have known better.
4) it has left him politically exposed - given all the secrecy and cover up attempts this has made him an easy target for blackmail and extortion attempts. What was to stop some hostile foreign government from using a honey trap against him for whatever reason? It’s also left him open to ridicule.
Someone else also metioned on another thread that despite how distasteful it looks its still private buisness and the norm for men of his background and time period - I’d argue no, since Spain’s media and govermement colluded in covering all this up for years (suppressing reports, paying out hush money, etc...) and that if you put a mistress on the official payroll as your EA, i.e. giving her public money, than its public buisness as thats a conflict of interest and calls your professional judgment and probity into question, to name but one example. All this has made him look, correctly or otherwise, selfish, irresponsible and reckless, and calls a lot of his track record as king and head of state into doubt.