King Juan Carlos told courtiers that he wanted to abdicate in favour of his son because he did not want his heir to “grow old waiting for the throne like Prince Charles”.
The 76-year-old monarch, who announced last Monday that it was time for “a younger generation to step into the front line,” is said to have been influenced in his decision to abdicate by the situation of the Prince of Wales, who at 65 is the oldest heir to the British throne for 300 years.
It emerged on Sunday that King Juan Carlos had privately told those close to him that he felt it was right to pass the throne on while his heir was still a young man.
“I do not want my son to wither waiting like Prince Charles,” he reportedly told Rafael Spottorno, chief of the royal household, according to a report in Spain’s daily El Mundo newspaper. » | Fiona Govan, Madrid and Matthew Holehouse | Sunday, June 08, 2014
