Out of the many ways in which Juan Carlos I could end his public life, he has chosen the worst for his biography and the one that entails the most dishonour for the history of the royal family: exile. Leaving his country. That said, it's nothing unusual, as he was born in Rome and lived in Estoril (Portugal) before landing in Madrid under the tutelage of general Franco, to be later appointed prince and heir to the crown and then head of state and king in 1975.
Among the labyrinth of people and, above all, of institutions, all with connections tying them in to the flight of a king emeritus who is mired in corruption cases (by the way: when will he resign his title?), one of those that appears is the Spanish government, which has not only looked the other way - accepting as consummated deeds the steps taken on a torrid first Monday in August, in order to reduce the media impact - but which has also been involved for several weeks via deputy PM Carmen Calvo in the planning of the departure from Spain.
That this has happened with a government which included ministers from left-wing Podemos and in which Pablo Iglesias even holds the one of the deputy PM positions has produced, at least, some embarrassment, apart from all the contortions that the party's political leaders have been making over the last 24 hours. Because the thing is very simple: if they didn't know about it, the truth is that they are much less relevant in the Spanish executive than it seemed, and if they were aware of the royal flight to exile - something they deny - the show they are putting on is related to the recent political flirtation between the PSOE and Ciudadanos.
But beyond the emeritus's flight from the country while maintaining in a letter to his son that "he has always wanted the best for Spain", beyond the gratitude of Felipe VI emphasizing the legacy and the work of his father "in service to Spain and democracy", and beyond the layer of protection provided by the Spanish government, is the part that institutions might decide to play, from the justice system and the prosecution service to the Spanish parliament. Because the chamber of elected representatives will have to say something about this new flight of a Spanish monarch or former monarch which threatens the foundations of the monarchical institution and which runs the risk of becoming, thanks to the immense power of the deep state, much more of a reality show than a matter of state. Isn't that right?