By Molly Claire Goddard
8:47am PST, Nov 7, 2025
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In Juan Carlos' memoir,
Juan Carlos I d'Espagne: Réconciliation, the disgraced royal recalled killing his 14-year-old brother
Alfonso de Borbón while they were playing with a Star Bonifacio Echeverria automatic pistol. "I didn't like to talk about it. This is the first time I do. We had no idea there was a bullet left in the chamber," Carlos, who was 18 at the time,
wrote. "He died in my father [
Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona]'s arms. There is a before and an after. It is still difficult for me to speak of it. I think of it every day. I miss him. I wish I could have him by my side and talk with him. I lost a friend, a confidant."
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Juan Carlos recalled his dad, Infante Juan, yanking him by the neck while yelling, "Swear to me that you didn't do it on purpose!"
The now 87-year-old added, "It left me with an immense emptiness. Without his death, my life would have been less dark, less unhappy."
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In 2014, Juan Carlos abdicated the throne due to numerous financial and personal scandals in favor of his son, Felipe VI of Spain. "I know I may have disappointed some. I have acknowledged that in these pages. I am no saint. Power has not stifled my personality, which I have never hidden. I do not know whether the sacrifice of leaving Spain is useful or properly appreciated. It has changed me greatly as a man," he said in the tell-all.
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After rumors swirled for years about Juan Carlos and
Princess Diana's alleged
affair, the father of three denied the speculation, claiming the Princess of Wales was "cold, taciturn, distant, except in the presence of the paparazzi."
