80th Birthday Celebrations of King Juan Carlos & Queen Sofia - 2018


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All the great celebrations of the Royal Family, including private ones, are celebrated in Zarzuela, by organization, privacy and security. It was Juan Carlos' birthday, if he did not want the condemned Iñaki there, his daughter should have respected him.

Cristina has always played with her presence and absences, or has pressed with the presence or absence of her children to covenience.

We must remember that if Cristiña has a great job with a large salary in Geneva it is because she was hired by the Aga Khan, a personal friend of Juan Carlos. According to several reports, are Juan Carlos and Sofia who pay for the elite education of their four children. She should be more grateful.

The day before the birthday the family was photographed in Rome, it is ironic that precisely this year they have decided to spend the birthday of Juan Carlos in the city that Juan Carlos was born.
 
Do we know that

a) she and her family were actually invited
b) who decided that they wouldn't attend


It seems a lot of assumptions with no concrete proof - just supposition.

It is perfectly possible that she was invited and decided not to attend out of respect for her brother. It could be that they were invited but in such a way that it was expected that she would refuse to attend. It could be that the children don't want to be with people who don't want their parent/s around ... all sorts of reasons.

The simple thing is 'we don't know' why she and her family didn't attend - only that they didn't.
 
According to the press that was informed of the event, she and her children were invited, the only one who was not welcome was Iñaki. So it was her decision.

In the past she has attended events like family funerals without Iñaki without a problem, she even always seemed happy to be photographed with the family. Or the children have been on vacation with the whole family in Mallorca without their parents. Even she traveled with her daughter Irene so that the girl could attend the first communion of her cousin Leonor.

Probably this year Iñaki will go to prison, maybe Cristina still hopes that her family will pull the strings to free him (although that would be totally scandalous).

Cristina has lost a great opportunity to rebuild ties with her family, since not only was the Royal Family, but also the infantas Pilar and Margarita and their children and the Borbón-Dos Sicilias (who have always helped her)... And I do not think that they all accepted that depreciation of Juan Carlos.

From King to King: «If you are proud of me, I am proud of you»

De Rey a Rey: «Si tú estás orgulloso de mí, yo lo estoy de ti»

King Felipe made a speech, also King Juan Carlos and other guests said a few words.

The Royal Family, the families of the sisters of Juan Carlos, Irene of Greece, the Borbón-Dos Sicilias and several godchildren of Juan Carlos attended.

The lunch menu was poached egg with caviar sabayon, supreme turbot with vegetable ratatouille, sirloin brochette and basmati rice and, for dessert, a selection of cut fruit and birthday cake.

The granddaughters carried the cake with 80 candles, which king Felipe and the grandchildren helped blow.
 
Fact is that the Urdangarin grandchildren, who are much loved by their grandparents (and who obviously don't mind being around their cousins or King uncle/Queen aunt), missed out on their grandfather's 80th birthdays because of petty games of the adults involved, what is a shame, and the adults should be ashamed of it.

Nobody wants to see Inaki, but to be fair Cristina should have been there (her own choice if she declines) and who should in any case have been there are Cristina's children. It would have been a worthy photo of JC with ALL his grandchildren instead of only half of them, showing a broken family - down to the grandchildren, who are innocent parties - to the public.
 
Do we know, or are we assuming, that the children wanted to go?

I know that if my father wasn't welcome I wouldn't care what the event was I wouldn't go ever.
 
If my partner was not welcome, I would not like to go either. And if I have any underaged children, I doubt I would have let them go. So I completely understand the position of the Infanta Doña Cristina.

She is not unique. Every family, royal or not royal, has this sort of rifts. It is part of life.
 
I am not sure that it was Juan Carlos who didn't want Iñaki there. It could very well be Felipe and Letizia who were pretty clear that his attendance was a no-go. Felipe seems to have distanced himself completely since he became the monarch (he might not have done the same had they not been the royal family); right now he has no ground to refuse his sister but his brother-in-law was found guilty and still needs to serve his sentence.

I fully understand that the family unit decided not to come if not all were welcome. It is very different from the grandchildren staying with their grandmother (who visits them as well and is not afraid to be seen with her daughter's family) to spend part of the summer with her. Also different from Cristina on her own attending a memorial service. This wouldn't be one or a few members of the family attending but all but one.
 
With it being a happy occasion in honour of the former monarchs milestone perhaps it was agreed that Cristina and her family would not attend,the scowling faces from the late Infanta Alicia's memorial Mass left a very unpleasant image of the Spanish Royal Family when they are all together.
 
Yeah, hey should be ashamed of this way of proceed. After all, Inaki and Cristina didn't do that much, they only put the monarchy through its most vulnerable stake in 40 years. A stake from which it has yet not recover and probably never will. But hey, it's Christmas and they're royals celebrating, they should they care so much for such mundane things :whistling:

An invitation was cursed and they decided not to go. There is tension in the family (hoe could it not be?!) which is something no strange to many other families in the world. I honestly am prerty satisfied to not see either Iñaki nor Cristina in that picture and I think so are most of Spaniards. Here we have pretty much assumed they have been retired forever from the RF and let's better pretend, RF and country, they are not around anymore so we can move on. To be honest, I think just royal watchers are doing a drama out of all this.
 
camelot23ca said:
If Cristina and the children were in fact absent, and if the reason was because Inaki wasn't invited, Juan Carlos should be ashamed of himself, IMO. Juan Carlos has happily rubbed shoulders with people who make Inaki look like a choir boy so I doubt it would have killed him to be civil to his son in law for a couple of hours for the sake of his daughter and especially his grandchildren. If the issue was Inaki being in an official residence I'm sure any number of extended family or friends would have gladly opened their homes for the celebration. If anyone here is showing an excess of pride and holding a grudge it's not Cristina, it's her father.

Juan Carlos has been petty throughout this process, though. I recall, for example, an article in Vanity Fair in which he authorized one of his closest friends to speak disparagingly of Inaki. Contrast that to another article in the same magazine in which Cristina's closest family and friends spoke and one of the upfront conditions was that they didn't discuss either Inaki or the Spanish royal house.

I'm not sure why they chose such a provocative picture to publish. They could have taken a nice one of Juan Carlos, Felipe and Leonor. Or, if Cristina and the children were in fact there, they could have done one with JC and all the grandchildren. Or they could have done no public picture at all as it was well emphasized in the Spanish press that this was a strictly private event. Instead they choose a picture of the entire family, except of course one of his daughters and, oh yeah, half of his grandchildren. They must have known the absence would be part of all the headlines and provide the opportunity for still more discussion about the seemingly endless toxic relationships within the family. More importantly than all that, it seems needlessly cruel towards the Urdangarin children.
Click to expand...

I don't think the decision to invite the Urdagarins was up to Juan Carlos, but rather to his son as the new king.
 
It was a nice and colourful ceremonial today. Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía were visibly touched by the égards and the honours to them.
 
Spanish Royal Family gathering at Zarzuela,hopefully more will be released?

PPE Agency
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
Fact is that the Urdangarin grandchildren, who are much loved by their grandparents (and who obviously don't mind being around their cousins or King uncle/Queen aunt), missed out on their grandfather's 80th birthdays because of petty games of the adults involved, what is a shame, and the adults should be ashamed of it.

Nobody wants to see Inaki, but to be fair Cristina should have been there (her own choice if she declines) and who should in any case have been there are Cristina's children. It would have been a worthy photo of JC with ALL his grandchildren instead of only half of them, showing a broken family - down to the grandchildren, who are innocent parties - to the public.
Click to expand...

Agree. Bad situation - but also a bad game from Christina.
BYe Bine
 
ANNIE_S said:
Yeah, hey should be ashamed of this way of proceed. After all, Inaki and Cristina didn't do that much, they only put the monarchy through its most vulnerable stake in 40 years. A stake from which it has yet not recover and probably never will. But hey, it's Christmas and they're royals celebrating, they should they care so much for such mundane things :whistling:

An invitation was cursed and they decided not to go. There is tension in the family (hoe could it not be?!) which is something no strange to many other families in the world. I honestly am prerty satisfied to not see either Iñaki nor Cristina in that picture and I think so are most of Spaniards. Here we have pretty much assumed they have been retired forever from the RF and let's better pretend, RF and country, they are not around anymore so we can move on. To be honest, I think just royal watchers are doing a drama out of all this.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your view on this subject especially since you are a citizen of Spain and know the exact feelings of your friends and family. I actually was not going to comment on this royal family subject but now I admit that every one of my Spanish friends were extremely glad that Inaki and Cristina was not there. They also felt that although a lovely photo of the ex-King and all of his grandchildren would have been a brilliant keepsake on his 80th birthday, their loss, not his. They also fell strongly that both JC and Sofia knew weeks ahead of time Cristina's family would not be there and could have stopped the celebration [same as 50th wedding anniversary do] if they felt strongly about not having that section of their family present. None of us know exactly what has transpired behind closed doors or in phone conversations between JC and Cristina [once the apple of his eye]. Family drama. Cristina made it clear by making sure she and family were pictured the exact time in Rome enjoying their life publically proving she actually could care less. She made her own choice. I am sure they have ironed out their exact situation between father and daughter which it now seems to be working for them. At least she is getting everything for her family paid for by daddy, so she can't complain too much [according to friends]. Everyone of the grandchildren seen happy in their own world and that is what life is all about. There seems to be someone in every family that not all love and want to be with. It is life. This is just more public due to court situation and the cost to the Spanish citizens.
 
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I was kept awake last night by a bad head cold and spent an hour or so perusing the various media, Royal instagram accounts, Twitter, etc and of course there was a huge amount of commentary on the photo and Cristina’s family’s absence. The tone has changed from what I believe it would have been a year or two ago. Many, many negative comments about the press calling this a “family picture” when almost half the family was glaringly absent, including four children who have done nothing wrong. Many comments saying the family should be able to separate the institutional from the personal and Cristina is her parents’ child and Felipe’s sister regardless of what’s happened in the past. A surprising amount of comments actively supporting Cristina participating in family occasions with the children - not sure if that’s a growing faction or just getting more vocal as time goes on. Any one who took a hard line - Cristina is a thief who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the lily white royal family provoked a cascade of comments about family trumping all, uncaring grandparents and uncles, elephant hunting, serial infidelity, the fact that you have to be pretty naive to think that Juan Carlos at least wasn’t aware of what Inaki was doing with Noos, and various recaps of complaints about Felipe and especially Letizia. This was true across the political spectrum of media and even on what are usually staunchly royalist Instagram accounts.

Internet commentary is, of course, no more scientific than what someone’s friends are saying - but as I said before, the change in tone is striking and if the SRF is smart, they - all of them - will get their acts together at least in public. Cristina and her children aren’t going to get less sympathetic as time goes on, especially once Inaki is in prison, and the longer the appearance of total ostracism from her father, brother and sister in law goes on the worse it’s going to look for the father, brother and sister in law. If I were Felipe I would lock myself in a room with Cristina and Juan Carlos and none of us would come out until a plan was in place to gradually show a normalization of civil family relationships. If Letizia, Elena or whoever else has been stirring things up the law would be laid down to them, too. As King and as an apparently once loving son, brother and uncle Felipe needs to do what his father should have done long ago and take the lead on some sort of Borbón family detente. It really boggles the mind the family has let things get to this point.
 
It would be nice if someone could have volunteered to take the Urdangarin children to the lunch, it's a shame they have to miss family events because of their parent's behaviour. It's not fair on them that they don't get to see their relatives because of something they didn't do.
I also wonder where Victoria Federica was considering her brother was there - perhaps she was with her father or ill.

I like the family photo though, cute to see Sofia put her hand on Leonor's shoulder.
 
Victoria Federica is in the photo. Although normally she and her brother spend these days with their father, it is evident that Jaime has not made any problems.

If the parents had wanted the children to be present, they would have been there.

Infanta Elena and her children were with the Urdangarin in Vitoria at the end of the year. The children could have traveled perfectly with their aunt to Madrid, but Cristina and her family decided to go on vacation to Rome (ironically the city where Juan Carlos was born, seems like a provocation). Last year after the end of the year in Vitoria, Irene traveled to Madrid to spend a few days with her grandmother and her cousins.

Cristina de Borbón Dos Sicilias, was at the party and she was the one who looked after the children when their parents were at the trial. A few months ago the Urdangarin were on vacation at the estate of the Borbón Dos Sicilias.

As I said before, I think that on this occasion Cristina's attitude could not like family members that have supported her a lot like Elena (she is very close to her father) and the Borbon Dos Sicilias family that was in full at the party.
 
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lula said:
Victoria Federica is in the photo.



If the parents had wanted the children to be present, they would have been there.



Infanta Elena and her children were with the Urdangarin in Vitoria at the end of the year. The children could have traveled perfectly with their aunt to Madrid, but Cristina and her family decided to go on vacation to Rome (ironically the city where Juan Carlos was born, seems like a provocation). Last year after the end of the year in Vitoria, Irene traveled to Madrid to spend a few days with her grandmother and her cousins.



Cristina de Borbón Dos Sicilias, was at the party and she was the one who looked after the children when their parents were at the trial. A few months ago the Urdangarin were on vacation at the estate of the Borbón Dos Sicilias.



As I said before, I think that on this occasion Cristina's attitude could not like family members that have supported her a lot like Elena (she is very close to her father) and the Borbon Dos Sicilias family that was in full at the party.
Click to expand...



Ah yes, I’ve just spotted her. Thanks lula - that was a late night moment! It’s half past ten here and I’m getting sleepy. She was at the back on the left so with half open eyes I couldn’t spot her. :coffee:

It seems that Cristina doesn’t want her children to be at family events, which is a shame but perhaps she is worried that their presence will remind the others of her and her husband’s behaviour. I doubt it though, it’s probably just due to the fact that she wants to be cut off from the family during the NOOS case, but of course we don’t know for sure, though this is what I’m guessing.
 
There was nothing wrong. I am sure there is an excellent internet connection between Switzerland and Spain and that the family Urdangarín wished their father, father-in-law and grandfather a very, very happy birthday by Skype or Messenger, whatever. You know, that 80-years old man who funds their expensive housing and the exclusive education for the children.

It is only for some posters here that they want to see a complete picture with all children. Why? Half the world knows that prison hangs above Iñaki. Half the world knows that the Infanta Doña Cristina is bitter about the situation. Posing as a complete "happy" family would have been the best joke of the year. And the year is only six days old... The decision to stay away was wise. Grandpa Juan Carlos will certainly cuddle and coo his Swiss grandchildren. Just not at Zarzuela. That is all.
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
There was nothing wrong. I am sure there is an excellent internet connection between Switzerland and Spain and that the family Urdangarín wished their father, father-in-law and grandfather a very, very happy birthday by Skype or Messenger, whatever. You know, that 80-years old man who funds their expensive housing and the exclusive education for the children.

It is only for some posters here that they want to see a complete picture with all children. Why? Half the world knows that prison hangs above Iñaki. Half the world knows that the Infanta Doña Cristina is bitter about the situation. Posing as a complete "happy" family would have been the best joke of the year. And the year is only six days old... The decision to stay away was wise. Grandpa Juan Carlos will certainly cuddle and coo his Swiss grandchildren. Just not at Zarzuela. That is all.
Click to expand...

All the world knows that Juan Carlos was flagrantly and serially unfaithful to Sofía for most of the marriage. All the world knows about the tension that existed between Juan Carlos and Letizia at least at one point and I would guess they’re not best buddies now. And anyone who’s been paying attention who thinks that Juan Carlos was ignorant of Inaki’s business dealings, well, I don’t know what to say. I don’t see how this photo is any less of a joke than a more complete one would have been.

Juan Carlos turning 80 could have been a relatively simple PR win for the Spanish royals. Again, a nice portrait of Juan Carlos, Felipe and Leonor, or a well done portrait of Juan Carlos himself - put it up on the website with a congratulatory birthday message, follow it up the next day with a solemn, high profile public event. Done. Instead Felipe and Juan Carlos authorized a badly done photo very likely taken with someone’s cell phone of a family configuration that guaranteed at least a couple of days of controversy and discussion that I would assume the SRF doesn’t need right now.

Maybe they feel that the institution is so rock solid and the current members of the SRF are all so popular and free of controversy themselves that they don’t need to pay attention to these little details.
 
:previous: fully agree with everything you said.

The best options would have been a 3 generation photo, a portait of JC alone and JC with all his grandchildren.

The photograph itself is certainly not done by a professional photographer, who would never cut off people's feet. You either cut at the waist or do full length. Very amateurish for this occasion.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
:previous: fully agree with everything you said.

The best options would have been a 3 generation photo, a portait of JC alone and JC with all his grandchildren.
Click to expand...

I agree. I always like the three generation photos. The SRF are quite quiet at releasing photos in general though compared to the other European RFs, so I just thought it was nice that we got this one.
 
They really need professional help all the photos they use are donkeys years old and should have been updated with the accession of King Felipe VI.
 
Spain's most popular Royal -Queen Sofia turns 80 in 2 weeks I doubt there will be anything official but it would be nice to see some of her Greek Family in Madrid for a get together.
 
casa real pubished a family photo when JC turned 80 this January, would be strange if they did not do the same for Queen Sofia! And she certainly loves those smiley family pictures!
 
The article mentions Princess Irene of Greece and Princess Tatiana Radziwill. It does say that other relatives and friends will also be invited. I suppose prince Michael (of Greece) and perhaps cousins from Romania and Serbia (+Aosta?) will be there too. I wonder if the friends would include foreign royals of Sofia's generation, as she knows them all for most of her life.

As it is a private birthday I see no reason why her daughter should not attend, apart from saving Cristina the embarrassment. It is natural for a (grand)mother to want all her children and grandchildren around her. It is not Cristina or the children who have been found guilty but Inaki & I see no need to punish them further for the mistakes of a father/husband.

A greater surprise than Cristina for me would be Marie-Chantal who let herself go on social media this Easter, which I am sure was not appreciated in Madrid.
 
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