No million-dollar deal or Netflix contract: King Juan Carlos and the truth about a Spanish ‘The Crown’© Getty Images

No million-dollar deal or Netflix contract: King Juan Carlos and the truth about a Spanish ‘The Crown’

The life of Spain’s former head of state until 2014 will only be told in the biography he co-wrote with Laurence Debray, arriving in bookstores this November.


AUGUST 11, 2025 10:50 AM EDT

Only the biographical book, not TV, will tell the life of King Juan Carlos. Despite recent reports suggesting a possible multi-million deal with a well-known global streaming platform to adapt the memoir he co-wrote with Laurence Debray into a biopic, sources close to him informed ¡HOLA! Spain edition that the story is completely false.

'Reconciliation' covers the entire life of King Juan Carlos, from his childhood to the present day© Alain Nogues

The news published by The Objective, citing government sources, claimed the plan was to use the launch of his memoir—Reconciliation (Reconciliación), set for November 12—as a hook for an audiovisual project. The proposal they described was to produce at least six episodes, not a biographical film with interviews of the King and others, but a fictional series inspired by real events with an ensemble cast, similar to The Crown, the well-known production about the British Royal Family that has run for several seasons thanks to its international success. However, our information contradicts these claims. King Juan Carlos has no intentions to emulate other royals, like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex or Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, who have secured agreements with streaming platforms.

La vida del rey Juan Carlos será únicamente relatada por la biografía que ha escrito en colaboración con Laurence Debray.

Reconciliation, the memoir that King Juan Carlos has written by hand with his Franco-Venezuelan biographer, historian Debray, also author of the essay Mon roi déchu (My Fallen King) and Daughter of Revolutionaries, which won several awards in France, will be released on November 12. The launch will take place simultaneously in Spain and France, published by Planeta in Spain and by Stock in France

In a past interview, the king’s biographer told ¡HOLA! that Reconciliation “covers his entire life, from childhood to the present day. It does not focus more on one period than another; it talks about everything equally, both from the point of view of the statesman and from the personal point of view.”

© Getty Images

Debray also shared that the autobiographical volume will feature previously unseen material: “It contains photos, some never before published. It is written in the first person and in French, because I am French and because the King is perfectly bilingual and expresses himself very well in French. It will also be published in Spanish.”

© Bettmann Archive
Spain's King Juan Carlos (born 1938), in his uniform, ascended the throne in 1975 after the death of Francisco Franco.

It will be a unique occasion and the first time in history that a former monarch tells how he lived through some of the most important episodes in our country in a book whose cover shows King Juan Carlos wearing the full dress uniform of a Captain General of the Army, adorned with decorations such as the Order of the Golden Fleece and the light blue sash of the Order of Charles III.

© Getty Images

Debray also revealed that the autobiographical volume will include previously unseen material: “It contains photos, some never before published. It is written in the first person and in French, because I am French and because the King is perfectly bilingual and expresses himself very well in French. It will also be published in Spanish.”

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