Specialist Pilar Eyre has once again sparked widespread curiosity with an unexpected account of Juan Carlos and Sofía's wedding night. Although it hasn't been a recent exclusive, her description continues to generate debate due to the rawness and historical background it conveys.
An evening marked by pain, not romance
According to Eyre, the newlyweds celebrated their union on May 14, 1962, and hours before, an accident occurred. Juan Carlos suffered a fall while practicing karate with his brother-in-law, which caused a serious fracture in his arm and an infected wound.
The cast stuck to his skin caused him such intense pain that, when they arrived at the ship where they would spend the night, he collapsed exhausted onto the bed. Sofía decided to act. She asked for a first aid kit and, piece by piece, removed the cast from him amid his painful screams, according to Eyre in her Lecturas blog.
This episode left the couple without intimacy. Eyre adds that "they couldn't do anything that night" and that Queen Victoria Eugenia, the king's grandmother, described it in a letter as a moment of deep suffering.
Pazo de Meirás and the broken bed: another uncomfortable scene in 1969
Eyre's narrative also evokes a later vacation, in August 1969, at Pazo de Meirás. There, the then-princes went to Franco's residence, where they broke the bed on the first night of their stay. According to the journalist, the couple may have overdone their movements—or some other excess—although she herself admits she doesn't know the details: "doing God knows what." Apparently, they informed Carmen Polo that they'd have to replace the broken bed, hinting at an episode with carnal and humorous undertones in the midst of a cold and austere dinner.
A historical context that helps explain many things
In the midst of Franco's dictatorship, Juan Carlos and Sofía's wedding had a heavy institutional component. Eyre recalls that Sofía married in a position of service to the State even before reigning, and in her youth, she experienced her new role as princess with sacrifice.
The celebration, according to Eyre, was marked by surveillance of the dictator and the need to please, rather than by genuine affection. The environment directly influenced their first summer vacation, which took place in Meirás and whose real objective was to please the regime. Eyre speaks of boredom and the feigned kiss to "the grandfather," the Caudillo, as an institutional gesture rather than an intimate one.
Debate on social media
This account is part of Eyre's extensive body of work on the Royal House. Blogs, interviews, and programs like Espejo Público have collected parts of these anecdotes that combine family documents (such as letters from Victoria Eugenia) and testimonies from close sources. There is no direct statement from Zarzuela about these episodes, which adds an aura of informed discretion to their credibility.
On social media, Pilar Eyre's official TikTok promotes recent exclusives about the emeritus king and continues to fuel the conversation about those decades of intense public life.
These anecdotes, coming from Pilar Eyre, are true. They aren't baseless rumors, but accounts built with documentary sources and well-placed confidences. Will more details of Juan Carlos and Sofía's royal past be revealed? Many questions remain unanswered.