The last time Juan Carlos I visited Mallorca was to attend the wedding of Rafa Nadal and Mary Perelló on October 19, 2019, at an estate in Pollença. Since then, the emeritus king had not returned to the island that was the setting for his vacations for more than four decades, to that Marivent Palace that continues to host the rest of his family year after year in Palma. Until this Sunday, July 26, when Juan Carlos made a brief visit to the Balearic capital for a celebration: the 80th birthday of his friend Miguel Arias.
The Madrid businessman owns the Flanigan restaurant in Puerto Portals, Calvià, where the birthday lunch took place, according to La Vanguardia on Monday. “Shortly after 8 p.m. on Sunday, after the birthday lunch for Arias and a long after-dinner at the Flanigan restaurant, King Juan Carlos entered Marivent, for the first time in seven years, to spend a few hours with his family,” the newspaper noted. It was there that the emeritus had a brief and discreet reunion with Queen Sofía, who has been at the Mallorcan palace since last week. He also had the opportunity to spend some time with his daughters, the infantas Cristina and Elena, with some of his grandchildren, and with other relatives, such as Queen Anne-Marie of Greece or Princess Alexia — Juan Carlos’s sister-in-law and political niece, respectively.
“After staying at the residence until shortly before midnight, the King’s father headed to Cala d’Or, 60 kilometers from Palma, where he spent the night at his friend Manuel Piñera’s house. On Monday morning, King Juan Carlos left the island on a private plane bound for Sardinia (Italy),” detailed La Vanguardia. Piñera is another close friend of the emeritus king who has maintained their friendship over the years and the kilometers. The businessman, a great bullfighting enthusiast and a historic subscriber of Las Ventas, owns a residence in Cala d’Or, an exclusive residential area of the municipality of Santanyí, where the emeritus spent the night.
Juan Carlos’s arrival on the island on Sunday morning, on a private flight from Geneva, coincided with the departure of his son, Felipe VI, who was in Peru. The current king had been in Palma de Mallorca since July 23, when he began his usual summer schedule, but had to interrupt his stay at Marivent to return to Madrid due to the severity of the wave of fires ravaging the Community of Madrid and the province of Ávila. Kings Felipe VI and Letizia have attended the Torrejón de Ardoz airbase these days to meet with the headquarters of the Military Emergency Unit (UME); or to the town of Villamanta, where they visited the sports center hosting neighbors evacuated due to the disaster.
This year, Queen Sofía’s summer at Marivent is marked by absences: that of her sister, Princess Irene of Greece, who passed away on January 15 at the age of 83; and that of her cousin, Princess Tatiana Radziwill, who died on December 20, 2025, at the age of 86. Both were part of her closest circle and have been regular guests at the Mallorcan palace.
As for Juan Carlos, after his stop in Sanxenxo in mid-June to compete in the regattas aboard the Bribón — which on July 24 was proclaimed European champion in the 6-meter class in Geneva — he has not yet returned to Abu Dhabi, where he has resided since 2020, due to the high temperatures in the Emirati capital. According to La Vanguardia, he has established his main base in Cascais (Portugal), where he stays in residences of Portuguese friends he has cherished since the times when the Spanish royal family was exiled in Portugal.
