That Don Juan Carlosin times when his abdication was far away, andBárbara Rey had had an affair, it was not a secret. Nor that the secret services would have bought the star’s silence with public funds. Everything was written with details, amounts, payment methods and even the way in which the alleged extortion was forged.
To myself, Barbara had revealed details of that relationship and I saw photographs from his private album in which Don Juan Carlos and Bárbara appeared together with intimate naturalness. Barbara always denied to me that she had obtained any income from her silence. Bárbara’s name has been linked to Don Juan Carlos for more than thirty years and no one doubted it. That it was in the public domain no longer endangered the integrity of the institution.
Don Juan Carlos had overcome other obstacles such as the scandal of hunting in Botswana with Corinna or his refuge in Abu Dhabi. Bringing that torrid affair with the star back into the news did not seem to be a headache for the King. Nor for the monarchical institution that his son directs with rectitude and exemplarity.
The real and worrying problem is not the morbidity of some snapshots that show infidelity, known, accredited, known and recognized. What is worrying is that Bárbara Rey was not simply a lover, she was a confidant. The CESID, as has been published, did not buy Bárbara Rey’s silence because of her romantic relationship with the then Head of State.
The photographs that have seen the light thirty years later are just the tip of an iceberg with multiple edges. The four photographs that were published in the Dutch magazine “Privé” are just an example of the dozens of snapshots and videos recorded of the intimate encounters between Don Juan Carlos and Bárbara Rey. Peccata minuta in comparison to what the star recorded and archived with meticulous intention.
The graphic material of intimate encounters is frivolousbut it simply satisfies curiosity and feeds morbidity. What worried and should still worry are the hours of conversations recorded during the meetings or telephone calls and which are transcribed and collected in a manuscript that was provided to Don Juan Carlos and that the CESID had in its possession.
After reading it, they agreed that those confidences to his lover compromised the Monarchy. and it was convenient to reach an agreement with Bárbara Rey so that the opinions of the Head of State did not transcend. Although there are several versions, it could be thirty million pesetas in a first installment and fifty million a year for another ten, in addition to securing the star a job on public television.
First on Canal Nou, with a cooking show, for which he earned seven million pesetas a month, and later with a series of galas on TVE. It seems that she took advantage of the trust that the King placed in her. Don Juan Carlos let off steam and talked with the star about family matters and matters of state..
What he thought about presidents, ministers and opposition leaders. The dangerous friendships of the monarch with important businessmen. There is a call from the King to Barbara that could give more information about a story that is also known and widely analyzed.
It was on February 23, 1981 to alert her and advise her not to go out on the street.. Although she does not provide the time, the star apparently included the recording to sow doubt as to whether the then Head of State was aware of the attempted coup d’état.
Morality
To make his mother look bad, Ángel Cristo Jr. is willing to do anything. But one or more disloyalties can only be judged from morality. What transcends the idyll, on a sentimental level, is simply that Don Juan Carlos was not a faithful man. The revelations he made to Barbara are more worrying. The confidences, opinions and opinions of a Head of State who is presumed to be impartial would put other aspects of his image at risk. It would be a political derivative that would be more difficult to manage.
In mid-summer they were about to be published in Germany, but finally, the Teutonic publication preferred not to make them public. Ángel Cristo complained. «There are no brave people»he said every time a media outlet rejected his publication. Now that the magazine «Privé» published the first 4 photos, will continue to make public the sensitive material included in the manuscript for which Bárbara earned a fortune of several million euros and that, according to his own son, squandered in casinos and bingos.
Ángel claims to have everything programmed to the millimeter. If her sinister purpose comes to an end, her mother will remain a blackmailing, gambling and lying woman. But in the midst of this soap opera that is relived in the media with the force of the first day, Don Felipe’s exemplary character cannot be overshadowed by past issues.