“Be quiet, the Greek is coming”

In the 80s, Juan Carlos I approached the groups of journalists who accompanied him on trips and events and told spicy jokes. When Queen Sofia approached the group and could hear the conversation, the folksy monarch lowered his voice and whispered to the laughing informants: “Be quiet, the Greek is coming.” This is what he nicknamed the mother of his three children in small committee while he was living the adventure with Bárbara Rey, this Spanish gentleman who is preparing memoirs and on whom the State and the consolidation of Democracy then depended.

Many assumed that His Majesty led a life apart from his wife and without a doubt Queen Sofia also knew it. However, neither the press nor the monarch’s wife said anything in public. Until much later the media looked the other way and the governments, too.

Until recent years, when the Royal House has seen scandals related to the private activities of the king Juan Carlos have affected his public image, even influencing his decision to abdicate in 2014. However, while the media focus has been focused on the sentimental and economic controversies of the former monarch, it is Queen Sofia who emerges as the main emotional victim of this plot. Now that the first-born son of the deceased lion tamer, who was Bárbara Rey’s husband, speaks of blackmail by his mother to the King, the audios or photographs that have come to light do more harm to Queen Sofía than to Don Juan Carlos, regattas, traveling through Galicia to participate in regattas, entertained as he passes through the streets and residing under the umbrella of the theocracy that welcomes him.

The audios from 1994: “I love you, darling”

No matter how knowledgeable she was in advance about the release of the audios and images of the scandal, they make an emotional impact on Queen Sofía. In the audios from 1994 you can perfectly hear the loving and close treatment they shared. “Man, I say… ‘this guy doesn’t call me,'” Barbara reproaches him with confidence. “I’ve called you seven or eight times,” he says. “It’s strange, because the phone hasn’t rung,” she replies. “I love you, darling,” says Felipe de Borbón’s father at the end of the conversation. “I love you more,” concludes the vedette.

However, and despite the seriousness of the revelations, sources close to Zarzuela assure that The Royal House observes the situation with a certain distance, apparently more concerned about the collateral effects on the figure of Queen Sofía than about the acts themselves. Juan Carlos I Since the late 80s, when Sabino Fernandez Campothen head of the King’s Household, warned that the press would no longer protect the king’s scandals, the effort to maintain the image of the institution intensified. However, the political and business pressures of the time managed to contain the dissemination of many aspects of the monarch’s private life.

The scandal that began with the king’s romantic relationships has led to other more delicate revelations, including those related to his financial management. But Queen Sofia, who has never been involved in controversies of any kind, has been caught at the center of a media storm that calls into question her loyalty and sacrifice for the monarchy. Despite having silently assumed the difficult situation, his figure remains unscathed before public opinion.

The same sources point out that, although some scandals have been assumed within the royal family, there are certain aspects that have not yet been completely digested by all those involved, especially those related to the romantic relationships of Juan Carlos I. The queen, however , fulfills its institutional role with discretion, while controversies evolve under the watchful eye of the press and society. The past decisions of the former monarch test the infinite patience of Queen Sofia, witness and silent victims of the errors committed in the past by the father of her three children, who is still her husband today.

The Queen Emeritus endured, with full knowledge, what was happening outside her marriage and Bárbara Rey speaks of her like this: “There may be a black hand there,” she says in an audio. “He hates me and has done everything he can to bring me down,” says the star.

That is to say, she endured stoically and with a smile in public, 20 years of relationship between Juan Carlos I and Bárbara Rey. It was not the first affair nor the last. But in the case of the star, she knew what was happening in detail, she received news of the passion with which her husband lived that adventure, she was not oblivious to the fact that they had to resort to officials and to provide money to silence leaks and at the time be able to hide to the general public what happened, and to prevent the photos and mutual recordings in the possession of both the actress and the Spanish secret services from coming to light as has subsequently happened, although with Juan Carlos abdicated and living outside of Spain. Bárbara Rey herself commented that Queen Sofía knew that her affair with King Juan Carlos was real: “There may be a black hand there,” she says in an audio. “He hates me and has done everything he can to bring me down,” he says. OK Diary in one of the conversations.

The former head of state and the actress and Ángel Cristo’s mother met in 1977 when he, being the king of Spain, called the totanera’s house. She thought it was a joke. There began one of King Juan Carlos I’s extramarital affairs, which would lead to a movement of public money that, presumably, was used to please – or silence – his lovers. Other known lovers arrived later. Only a few names are known, such as the Mallorcan interior designer Marta Gayá (76), whom he called in public “my girlf” (“my girlfriend”) or that of the businesswoman Corinna Larsen (60).

The first time Doña Sofía found out that her husband was with Bárbara Rey, neither the queen nor her husband had turned 40. Philip of Bourbon He was a 9-year-old boy and his older sisters were barely teenagers. Juan Carlos I had just ascended the throne after the death of Franco and both the parliamentary monarchy and the Transition were hanging by a thread. Bárbara Rey, at 27 years old, attracted the attention of the monarch, 13 years older, to the point of becoming his fascination, to the point that the then King said that it was his refuge from the pressure he suffered during the day. day by day, trying to lead Spain towards democracy and because even then his marital relationship with Queen Sofia was not healthy. Sofía also knew about that and even so, she went out arm in arm with her husband to smile every time her institutional obligations or public and family events required it. Undaunted.

There were many people within the sphere of power who hid the affair either for their personal convenience, out of fear or to protect the institution.

Not only Queen Sofía endured, remained silent and knew about the relationship between her husband and Bárbara Rey: there were many people within the sphere of power who hid the affair for the good of the institution and therefore for the good of Spain for the general public. The protection of the State and media control were constant: not only were the King’s escapades monitored and protected, but he was hiding, but not his wife. Queen Sofia came to know in which estates, in which hotels or in which residences the constant infidelities occurred.

And it remained that way from the late 70s until the 90s, when the first information about the alleged relationship was leaked. There was then talk of the intervention of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) in the payment of large sums of money to ensure the silence of Bárbara Rey, who, according to the testimony of her eldest son, Ángel Cristo, recorded the conversations and intimate meetings with his real lover to, as they say, protect himself. There is no conclusive evidence, but statements and testimonies from former officials of the secret services indicating that public funds were used to maintain the secret further tarnished the image of King Juan Carlos.

“You will end badly. You will kill me, because that is what you have wanted for a long time. But do not forget that you have been united with me for a long time and that death will always be linked to you and you linked to me. And that union will never be is going to undo. You can’t get rid of this! You fall with me!”, Bárbara Rey is heard saying in the audios. “They are going to kill me, but they are going to kill me with my head held high and the whole world knowing what person I have faced, and what person I have been with, and what person has deceived this country and this world, that is the King,” says the actress very angry. On the other hand, we have never heard a single bad word about Queen Sofia.