“Juan Carlos – Love: “Documentary Thriller” about the rise and fall of the old king

“Juan Carlos – love
“Documentary thriller” about the rise and fall of the old king

After the era of fascism, he led his country into modernity and the center of Europe. In 2014 he was forced to resign after a series of scandals, and in 2020 he went into exile. How did this development around Juan Carlos (85) come about? A documentary series on Sky now highlights the rise and fall of the Spanish old king.

“Juan Carlos – Love, Money, Betrayal” will start on May 21, 2023 on Sky and on the Wow streaming service. The four 45-minute episodes will air in double episodes on May 21 and May 28 on Sky Documentaries.

The focus of the “documentary thriller”, as the broadcaster calls the format, is the scandal surrounding Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (58). The businesswoman and former lover of the king unpacks exclusively as a “star witness” in the documentary. The case brings together the personal affairs and financial entanglements that accompanied the king for decades.

Notorious elephant hunt as a trigger

The trigger was the infamous elephant hunt in Botswana in 2012. This decadent hobby in the middle of the recession caused an outcry in Spain. Among other scandals, elephant hunting was a main reason for the resignation that his children forced Juan Carlos to do in 2014.

Juan Carlos breaks his hip during the expensive trip. His good friend Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein brings him back to Spain – and arouses public interest for the first time. The monarch wanted to separate from his wife Sophia (84) and marry Corinna, one learns later.

Secret services put pressure on Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein

But Juan Carlos also cheats on his lover. When the native German finds out about this, she turns away from him. The secret service wants to force her out of the country, after all she knows compromising internal information about Juans Carlos’ finances. A payment from the king to Corinna of 65 million euros caused a further stir.

Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein went on the offensive despite pressure from the secret service. She smuggles sensitive documents to London and works with the authorities; Juan Carlos’ involvement with Saudi Arabia, for example, is coming to light.

“House of Cards” meets Shakespeare

Producer Christian Beetz (54) describes his project as a mixture of “House of Cards” and Shakespeare. For his co-producer Felix Kempter it is a combination of “investigative disclosure, emotional love drama and gripping thriller”.

Beetz, who is already responsible for the Facebook documentary “The Cleaners – In the Shadow of the Net World”, among other things, came across the material more or less by accident. The Spanish author and journalist Pedro Barbadillo asked him that he was planning a documentary about the dark side of Juan Carlos. According to their own statements, the team was put under pressure right from the start during their research. Websites and e-mails were hacked, and interviews were allegedly bugged.

In addition to the “principal witness” to Sayn-Wittgenstein, the makers were able to lure other top-class interlocutors in front of the camera. Among others, former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar (70) and Philip Adkins, ex-husband of Sayn-Wittgenstein and former confidante of Juan Carlos, speak. According to the filmmakers, only the old king himself did not want to comment – if you watch the documentary, you will know why.

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