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de Lady Di a Grace Kelly

Although the Spanish royal family has been the protagonist of great scandals, especially in recent years, we must not forget that, to an equal, lesser and sometimes even greater degree, other Royal Houses have also faced great problems. This is what the sixth and final chapter of “Los Borbones, una familia real” is about, a documentary series co-directed by Ana Pastor and Aitor Gabilondo whose final episode was broadcast this Sunday on Atresmedia Player. The space reviews the scandals of other royals, The Windsors and the Grimaldis took the leading role.

And it is that if there is a family that has experienced all possible controversies, that is the British. Starting by the tortuous marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Di, a wedding that was more for convenience than for love and that made them both miserable. Diana Spencer was seen by the Crown as the ideal woman to become the future queen: from a noble family and, moreover, a virgin, as she herself would tell years later. However, Prince Charles was in love with another: Camilla, married at the time to Andrew Parker Bowles, father of her two children.

Lady Di, with don Juan Carlos in Mallorca. (Getty)

Carlos and Camilla never left their relationship, despite his marriage to Diana, and the princess, aware of her husband’s double life, did the same, also looking for love in other arms. The documentary compares between the princes of Wales with the kings emeritus, who spent two summers together in Mallorca. We find ourselves before two unfaithful husbands and two women who assume it. They do not cut each other, much less Don Juan Carlos, who came to flirt with Diana in front of Queen Sofía in Marivent, as Lady Di herself told in her biography.

Diana’s destiny was cut short in a car accident in Paris when she had already rebuilt her life and planned to marry Dody Al Fayette. It was in similar circumstances that Grace Kelly lost her life. As journalist Martín Bianchi tells it, there are two versions of the actress’s story with Prince Rainier: a romantic one that assures that they met during a premiere and theirs was a crush; and a more pragmatic one that tells that, with the principality in ruins, Rainier accepted Onasis’s advice: “Marry the most famous woman you know.” And that was Grace.

Rainier’s wedding with Grace did not please the other Royal Houses because of her plebeian origin. They believed that this link meant a goodbye to the purity of the blood, which is why no representative of another royal family attended. Nevertheless, Grace found unexpected support from a queen of Spain, Victoria Eugenia, grandmother of Don Juan Carlos. She became his advisor and the one who opened the doors to the other Royal Houses. In fact, when Juan Carlos and Sofía got married in Athens, Queen Federica, mother of the emeritus, did not want to invite Grace. However, the insistence of Victoria Eugenia meant that in the end they did go to the link.

Decades later, another commoner who had to go through an ordeal to be accepted was Mette-Martit. His turbulent past, since he was the partner of a trafficker in addition to already having a son, caused the media to cry out in heaven. How could that woman become queen? However, Haakon and Mette-Marit decided to face the problem head-on and at a press conference the now-heiress apologized for what she had done in the past, getting the Norwegians to accept her. Theirs was one of the most romantic weddings in memory, although it is also true that it was the end for the relationship between Felipe VI and Eva Sannuma courtship that Don Juan Carlos did not approve of.

The Norwegian royal family. (Efe/EPA7Lise Aserud)

The cases of the women of the Japanese royal family are among the most extreme. Michiko, now empress emeritus, was the first commoner to marry a future emperor, and for decades she suffered so much pressure from the iron court that she lost her voice. The story would be repeated later with her daughter-in-law, Masako, who after her wedding with Naruhito, he sank into a depression, for which, curiously, he was also mute for months. The fact of not being able to give the Crown a male heir made Masako go down to hell, something similar to what happened recently with Naruhito’s niece, Mako, who has had to give up everything and move to the United States to marry the man she loves, Kei Komuro.

They say that we are doomed to repeat history, and it seems that this also happens in the Windsor family and in the Grimladi. As for the first, Harry, like his mother, has been a victim of pressure after marrying Meghan Markle. However, he has decided to put his family before his role and for this reason they moved to the United States and cut off all kinds of institutional relations with the British Crown. Another scandal that Elizabeth II has experienced in recent years, this unheard of, is the accusation of Prince Andrew of having abused a minor. A case that was going to go to trial, but thanks to an economic agreement, in which the queen has had a lot to do, has been silenced.

Harry and Meghan’s wedding. (Reuters)

As for the Grimaldis, Estefanía suffered a strong trauma after the car accident that claimed the life of her mother and in which she was also traveling. The invented rumors that she was the one driving made a dent in her personality, becoming the rebellious princess. Very notorious was her first marriage to Daniel Ducruet, that she separated from her after some photographs of him being unfaithful appeared, a report that could have been orchestrated by Rainier himself. Carolina hasn’t been lucky in love either, giving more strength to that legend that a woman cursed the family more than two hundred years ago, assuring that they would never find love.

The curse of the Grimaldi that, at the moment, is being fulfilled

N.Tiburcio

Carolina’s three marriages have ended badly: that of Philippe Junot, for being more a whim of the princess than for love and for his fame as a playboy; the second, with Stefano Casiraghi, for his premature death, leaving her a widow with three children; and the third, with Ernesto de Hannover, due to his fondness for alcohol. Nor has Alberto found complete happiness in his marriage to Charlène, proof of this are the multiple rumors that have always haunted them and that intensified when she spent more than half a year in South Africa. Although the official version is that she suffered from an ENT infection, the truth is that many believe that it was a estrangement from the couple, who are now back together in Monaco.

Carolina with Stefano Casiraghi and their three children. (Reuters)

The documentary reviews all these characters without forgetting Máxima Zorreguieta, who has also faced his own. Although she is now one of her most beloved queens, her father’s relationship with the Argentine dictatorship of Videla caused that, initially, the Dutch did not want that wedding. Little by little, and as they got to know Máxima, things calmed down until the parliament gave the green light to the link; yes, with one condition: the father of the bride could not attend.

It is clear with these stories that broad beans are cooked in all houses, and more so in those of the royal family, where the eyes of the media are on and not a single detail is forgotten.

Although the Spanish royal family has been the protagonist of great scandals, especially in recent years, we must not forget that, to an equal, lesser and sometimes even greater degree, other Royal Houses have also faced great problems. This is what the sixth and final chapter of “Los Borbones, una familia real” is about, a documentary series co-directed by Ana Pastor and Aitor Gabilondo whose final episode was broadcast this Sunday on Atresmedia Player. The space reviews the scandals of other royals, The Windsors and the Grimaldis took the leading role.

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