FLASH
Shkruar nga Martin Bianchi
Abuse, secret children, luxury travel and bedroom scandals: The old European monarchies of Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway are finding it increasingly difficult to hide their modern scandals. The media is no longer silent and public opinion is more critical than ever...
When French authorities accused Prince Luis Fernando de Orleans y Borbón of drug trafficking, Alfonso XIII of Spain quickly intervened to ensure that the scandal involving his cousin passed with as little fanfare as possible. It was 1924, the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera had just begun, and the Spanish king managed to close the case by exerting pressure on the media and removing his troublesome relative from the public scene.
Stripped of his titles and condemned to exile, Luis Fernando died in Paris in 1945, poor and forgotten by the Spanish people. But 80 years after the prince's death, the Crown is no longer able to sweep its controversies under the rug. Juan Carlos I, grandson of Alfonso XIII, has just published his memoirs in France, which he says is intended to reconcile with the past, his family and Spain.
But the book "Reconciliation", which will arrive in Spanish bookstores in December, has only reopened old wounds. Television, newspapers, online publications, magazines and social media specialized in monarchies have spent days analyzing the book's most sensitive issues without restraint: the almost father-son relationship that the monarch had with Francisco Franco and his collaboration with the dictatorship; his role in the attempted coup of February 23, 1981; his dubious wealth; his extramarital affairs; and even his personal disagreements with the current King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.
Omerta, the silence enjoyed by Juan Carlos, is a thing of the past. This pact began to break down in the summer of 1992, when the then Prime Minister of Spain, Felipe González, was forced to reveal that he could not appoint a minister because the king was not in Spain.
A simple phrase - "The King is not here" - caused the first crack in the great taboo of the Spanish transition to democracy: the end of the silence about the private life of the head of state.
Amidst that chaos, El País reported that the king was in Switzerland undergoing “a routine checkup.” Juan Carlos I was forced to quickly return to Madrid to meet with González, but he failed to quell rumors about the true nature of his absence.
In an unprecedented move, the press of the time openly spoke of his friendship with a well-known lady from Majorca, and pointed to this relationship as the reason for his secret trips abroad. Twenty years later, in 2012, another unannounced trip, this time to Botswana, and another affair, with Corinna Larsen, finally shattered the great taboo that had long made the monarch an untouchable figure for the Spanish press.
"In the case of Spain, there was a pact of silence for many years. The editors of the main media told their journalists: Be careful what you write about the royal family. We don't want problems. It was an institution that had just been restored and we had to be careful with them," admits Carmen Enríquez, a journalist for 37 years with Spain's public television, TVE, working as a royal correspondent from 1990 to 2007.
According to Enríquez, the media and social networks have played a big role in the current wave of openness. “Before, there was much less transparency; much less things came to light. The royal family was protected. Now, the media and all the institutions are very attentive to what is said on social networks and this makes them go a little further when reporting. It seems like the light has entered there too, sometimes against the interests and image of the royal family,” she says.
In a more similar vein, Antonio Zarzalejos, former director of the monarchist newspaper ABC: "Due to new technologies, traditional media have lost their exclusive role as intermediaries. This is a paradigm shift in information, communication and transparency in all societies. And this seriously affects monarchies, an institution that is by necessity reserved in relation to the public.
"Monarchy must always maintain a liturgical distance to preserve its mystique, and this conflicts with current demands for information and transparency. This clash highlights the considerable difficulty that monarchies, as unelected institutions, have in explaining themselves within democratic contexts," he points out.
But the Spanish monarchy is not the only one shaken by a book. The recent publication of Virginia Giuffre's posthumous memoirs in the United Kingdom has put King Charles III in a difficult position.
Giuffre's revelations in the book "Nobody's Daughter," in which she accuses Prince Andrew of sexual abuse and implicates him in the trafficking network of American tycoon Jeffrey Epstein, have forced the British monarch to disown his brother, stripping him of his titles and honors, removing him from the royal family and expelling him from the Windsor family estates.
“Në shtëpitë mbretërore ekziston një ligj darvinian për mbijetesën e tyre: ata që e kërcënojnë institucionin dëbohen. Kështu ndodhi edhe me vëllain e Charles III. Por edhe me Mbretëreshën Juliana të Holandës kur burri i saj, Princi Bernhard, u akuzua për marrje ryshfeti. Apo me Mbretin Edward VIII. Kjo është një praktikë shumë e vjetër. Ferdinandi VII nuk e lejoi babain e tij, Charles IV, që të vdiste në Spanjë. Alfonso XIII nuk e lejoi gjyshen e tij, Isabella II, të vdiste në Spanjë.
Por ky ligj, dikur i pashkruar, është sot më i vështirë për t’u zbatuar për shkak të rritjes së transparencës. Ky ndryshim në standarde, imponon një kufizim në numrin e anëtarëve në familjet mbretërore. Ato nuk mund të jenë më shumë të mëdha. Mbreti Felipe VI ka qenë shumë i zgjuar në këtë drejtim, duke e kufizuar familjen mbretërore në 6 anëtarë”- shpjegon Zarzalejos.
Vendimi i Mbretit Charles u përpoq të zvogëlonte sadopak dëmin e shkaktuar nga vëllai i tij, por mërgimi virtual i Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor vetëm sa ka ngritur pyetje të reja. Pse ish-princi është ende në radhën e trashëgimisë së fronit? A do të shkojë të jetojë në Sandringham, pronën private të monarkut britanik, siç sugjerojnë disa media? Kush do ta mbështesë tani?
Sipas një artikulli të kohëve të fundit në The Guardian, ish-Duka i Jorkut mund të marrë një pagesë vjetore që të mos përfundojë si nipi i tij, Princi Harry, që tregon shpesh në media jetën e tij të re si një njeri i thjeshtë. Në vitin 1990, Baudouin I i Belgjikës abdikoi për 36 orë për të shmangur nënshkrimin e ligjit për abortin.
Monarku, një katolik i devotshëm, përmendi kundërshtimin e ndërgjegjes. Por sot belgët nuk janë aq tolerantë ndaj tekave të mbretërve të tyre. Në tetor 2020, gjykatat belge njohën 52-vjeçaren Delphine Bowl si vajzën legjitime të Albertit II.
Brenda natës, mbretit aktual, Philippe, djali i Albertit dhe nipi i Baudouin, iu desh t’i hapte dyert e pallatit një motre të re dhe t’i jepte asaj titullin princeshë. Pavarësisht se ishte anëtare e plotë e Shtëpisë Mbretërore, në vitin 2023 Bowl paraqiti një ankesë te kryeministri i vendit për mos pasjen e të njëjtit trajtim si vëllezërit dhe motrat e saj, pasi ajo ishte përjashtuar nga ngjarjet zyrtare të familjes mbretërore.
Tani, Mbreti Philippe i Belgjikës duhet të mirëpresë një tjetër anëtar të ri dhe të papritur në pallat. Vëllai i tij, Princi Laurent, 62 vjeç, sapo ka pranuar se ka një djalë të fshehtë. Shtypi belg ka raportuar se mbreti do t’i japë titullin princ nipit të tij, Clément Vandenkerckhove, 25 vjeç.
Por ai nuk do të jetë anëtar i Shtëpisë Mbretërore, nuk do të përfshihet në linjën e trashëgimisë së fronit dhe nuk do të marrë një pagesë zyrtare. Mediat nuk po heshtin më për teprimet e mbretërve dhe princave të tyre, dhe opinioni publik është gjithnjë e më kritik ndaj tyre.
The luxurious private vacations of Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and their daughters to Mozambique and Greece have been a recurring topic of debate in the country. This summer, the Dutch press criticized the monarchs' eight-week vacation abroad.
Among their favorite destinations is the island of Spetses, an exclusive enclave in the Aegean Sea where they have a house and a yacht. Secret trips from the House of Orange are often problematic. Princess Amalia, the future queen, lived in secret in Madrid during 2023, due to threats from the Mocro Mafia.
This powerful and feared organized crime group in Europe offered a reward of tens of millions of euros for the murder or kidnapping of the heir to the throne, although the details only emerged after the princess was out of danger.
Even the seemingly idyllic Scandinavian monarchies are not immune to scandal and public scrutiny. Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit have been in the media spotlight for months due to the criminal behavior of Marius Borg, the son the princess had before she married the future king.
Borg, 28, faces around 30 charges for various criminal offences, including three counts of alleged rape, abuse and assault, threats and breach of protection orders. Mette-Marit's son has never held an official role in the Norwegian royal family, but he was raised in the palace alongside Ingrid Alexandra and Sverre Magnus, the Crown Princess's children with Haakon, with all the privileges that come with it.
Torgeir Krokfjord and Oistein Monsen, journalists for Dagbladet, the country's most widely read newspaper, have just published a book titled "White Stripes, Black Sheep." In it, they claim that Mette-Marit may have tried to obstruct the police investigation to protect her son.
The Norwegian royal family has not commented on the book, but its revelations and the ongoing flow of information about the Marius Borg case have affected Princess Ingrid, the heir to the throne. The 21-year-old recently gave an interview to public broadcaster NRK, where she acknowledged that these are “very serious matters” and have created difficulties for her family and “for everyone affected by the case.”
"Justice will have the final say!" - concluded the granddaughter of King Harald and Queen Sonja. The trial against her brother is expected to begin in January 2026. Crisis cabinets are now commonplace in royal families, but European monarchies are finding it increasingly difficult to sweep dirt under the soft carpets of the palace. / Prepared by: Pamphlet
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