Buckingham Palace is not officially aware of the existence on Carlos III’s agenda of the lunch that King Juan Carlos planned to have with the British sovereign at his residence in Clarence House, next Tuesday in London. The meeting, of a private nature, does not have to appear on the official agenda of the British sovereign, which would explain why Buckingham Palace has declared to the Efe news agency that it “does not recognize” the existence of this meeting. It is not the first time that the private activities of the royal family have disappeared from the radar of official spokesmen.
Since the news broke last Monday that King Juan Carlos planned to travel to Sanxenxo (Pontevedra) next week, taking advantage of a stay in London to meet privately with Carlos III, the meeting was confirmed since the source was the same King Juan Carlos who had made it so reach people around him in charge of disseminating the information. In the last hours, however, doubts have arisen since both in Madrid and in London, the species has been circulated that this possible meeting has been suspended or postponed.
It must be remembered that when on February 9, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, invited King Juan Carlos to dinner at the Élysée, together with the writers Mario Vargas Llosa and Javier Cercas, there was no official confirmation either and if it was known it was by a tweet from Ãlvaro Vargas Llosa, son of the Nobel Prize winner, and the subsequent confirmation of Cercas.
The Efe agency correspondent in London has contacted the official spokesmen of Buckingham Palace to find out details of this meeting and they have found a veiled denial, “This (the meeting) is not something we recognize,” he said , asked about it, the aforementioned spokesman who also recommended “departing from that idea.”
Buckingham Palace’s response comes after both the Efe agency and Europa Press, British diplomatic sources in Madrid claimed they had no evidence that said lunch was going to take place. Neither La Zarzuela, nor the Spanish embassy in London have ruled on the matter, since the meeting would fall within private activities.
King Juan Carlos, together with Queen SofÃa, was at the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II and also at the reception that Carlos III offered to the guests of the ceremony at Buckingham Palace, but the King’s father is not invited to attend. the Coronation ceremony of King Carlos, which is why, due to proximity and kinship, the meeting at Clarence House scheduled for Tuesday, April 18, would have been scheduled.
The doubt does not only reach the suspension of lunch as it extends, also to the possibility that King Juan Carlos finally does not travel to Sanxenxo, taking into account the controversy that has arisen and the fact that several personalities with ascendancy with King Juan Carlos would have advised him on the advisability of suspending the visit and postponing it until after the municipal and regional elections on May 28. At the moment the security device planned for the stay of King Juan Carlos in Sanxenxo is still active.
King Juan Carlos sent people he trusted his decision to travel from Abu Dhabi to London also had the objective of being present in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal that will face Real Madrid against Chelsea but it was It is unknown if those plans go ahead.
