Spain‘s exiled king Juan Carlos I has revealed for the first time how he shot and killed his younger brother when they were teenagers.
The former royal, who now lives in Dubai, published his 500-page memoirs this week, in which he wrote about the death of Alfonso nearly 70 years ago.
Juan Carlos admits to readers that for decades, ‘I didn’t like to talk about it, and this is the first time I do’.
In the book, published in France under the title ‘Juan Carlos I d’Espagne: Réconciliation’, the 87-year-old seeks to mend relations with his estranged son, Spain’s King Felipe VI, and confront painful memories from his past.
He recounts the traumatic incident that occurred in his childhood, when the brothers were ‘playing’ with a pistol as teenagers at their family’s home in Portugal in 1956.
‘I will not recover from this tragedy. Its gravity will accompany me forever,’ Juan Carlos wrote.
The episode is narrated in a chapter of just two pages titled ‘The Tragedy’, where the former monarch explained that the pistol’s magazine had been removed so he had thought it posed no danger.
‘We had taken out the magazine. We had no idea there was a bullet left in the chamber,’ he wrote.
‘A shot was fired into the air, the bullet ricocheted and struck my brother squarely in the forehead. He died in our father’s arms.’
At the time, there was no judicial inquiry into the circumstances of the firearms accident.
— Imogen Garfinkel in Spain’s former King Juan Carlos reveals for first time how he shot and killed his brother when they were teenagers
“Irresponsible gun-owning former-monarch of the day”
Probably not enough examples to start up a regular column.
I thought I was reading about a black teenager. Who was allowed to have guns unsupervised. And in this case had a father. But his dad unfortunately didn’t educate his child about firearms safety and responsibilities.
The story does remind me about the actress Lucille ball.
Who stated in her memoirs that the reason why she went into acting was to help pay their families legal bills. Because a relative of hers had killed another child with a gun from the family.
So the world was apparently freer than it is today.
Unfortunately, people still don’t want to face their responsibilities and the consequences that come with all that freedom.
Freedom is never free. You will always
pay one way or the other.
“So the world was apparently freer than it is today“
That’s what you take away from this?
Yes, it was freer, you know that because there were more children being accidentally killed by guns.
Just fascinating.
FAFO.
Lesson number one: guns aren’t toys.
Lesson number two: watch this video of a LEO shooting himself in a foot while lecturing on gun safety. Tell me the things he did wrong. Never forget it.
Ignorance of how a gun works is NO excuse. Lawyers can’t keep you safe. You need to understand the operation of the arm. But here is the kicker:
Did not face any formal charges
King Juan Carlos of Spain did not face any formal charges for the death of his brother, Alfonso, who was shot accidentally in 1956. The incident occurred when the brothers were playing with a pistol, and there was no judicial inquiry into the circumstances at the time. Juan Carlos later revealed the incident in his memoirs, but it was not a criminal case.
Us commoners would be charged