«Con Mi rey caído, Debray pasará a la historia como la gran biógrafa del Emérito . --Ana S. Juárez, La Razón

«Había una vez un príncipe, que era encantador, pero estaba maldito. Su nombre era Juan Carlos, o Juanito para los más cercanos. No era exactamente un príncipe, sino el nieto de un rey. Pero de un rey sin reino, obligado a vivir en el exilio. Su verdadero país, el que sus antepasados borbones gobernaron durante tres siglos, es España.

Tras 40 años de poder dictatorial, Franco designó, en 1969, a Juan Carlos, ese dócil playboy de treinta años y diligente militar, como su sucesor. Contra todo pronóstico, nuestro príncipe se convirtió en un animal político, transformó la imagen de España, la salvó de un golpe de Estado en 1981 y garantizó la estabilidad democrática. Mediante traiciones y complicidades, lágrimas y satisfacciones. Porque tras la hazaña política y el carisma se esconden tragedias personales. Entregado de niño al enemigo Franco, arrojado entre dos figuras paternas despiadadas, indirectamente responsables de la muerte accidental de su hermano menor, usurpador de su padre... El precio a pagar era alto, cuidadosamente oculto. Shakespeare no podría haberlo narrado mejor. El destierro final es incluso su apoteosis.

Qué puede unir a una «hija de revolucionarios y a un rey? Tras pasar su adolescencia en España, Laurence Debray se interesó, como historiadora, por la figura de Juan Carlos I. Escribió su biografía y después lo entrevistó en las vísperas de su abdicación, en 2014, para un documental de televisión.

Desde entonces, no ha dejado de hablar con él y de seguir los giros de guion de su destino. Hasta visitarlo, en 2021, en Abu Dhabi, donde se refugió, convirtiéndose en una figura rechazada por los españoles a raíz de sus aventuras extramatrimoniales y en un padre demasiado engorroso para el rey Felipe VI.

El relato de esta atópica relación que nos brinda Laurence Debray fascina por su virtuosismo, inteligencia, y lucidez cuando pasado y presente chocan. Estamos ante la verdadera novela de la vida de Juan Carlos, Rey de España.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

The fascinating and true story of Juan Carlos I, King of Spain.

"With My Fallen King, Debray will go down in history as the great biographer of the Emeritus." --Ana S. Juárez, La Razón

"There was once a prince who was charming, but was also cursed. His name was Juan Carlos, or Juanito, to those closest to him. He wasn't exactly a prince, but the grandson of a king--of a king with no kingdom, forced to live in exile. Spain was his true country, the one his Bourbon ancestors ruled for three centuries.

"After forty years of dictatorship, in 1969, Franco named Juan Carlos, that thirty-year-old-gentle playboy and diligent soldier, his successor. Against all odds, our prince became a political animal. He transformed the image of Spain, saved it from a coup in 1981 and guaranteed democratic stability. But he did it with betrayals and complicities, with tears and satisfactions. Behind that political prowess and charisma, there are personal tragedies. He was given to Franco as a child, torn between two ruthless paternal figures, indirectly responsible for the accidental death of his younger brother, usurper of his father... The price was high, and carefully hidden. Shakespeare could not have told that story better. Even his final banishment is an apotheosis."

What could possibly unite "a daughter of revolutionaries" and a king? After spending her adolescence in Spain, Laurence Debray became interested in the figure of Juan Carlos I as a historian. She wrote his biography and later interviewed him days before his abdication in 2014, for a TV documentary.

Since then, she hasn't stopped talking to him, keeping up with the twists and turns of the script of his life. She even visited him in Abu Dhabi in 2021, where he took refuge after being rejected by the Spanish people as a result of his extramarital affairs, becoming a troublesome father for King Felipe VI.

The tale of this association that Laurence Debray shares with us is fascinating for its virtuosity, brilliance, and clarity when past and present clash. We are before the true novel of the life of Juan Carlos, King of Spain.