The bizarre story of King Juan Carlos and Antonia Dell’Atte aboard the Fortuna
“He was there for two hours, he came out, he was photographed, but they never saw the light.”. We’ll have to go back to that summer when the whole royal family beat the heat in Palma de Mallorca. Kings Juan Carlos and Sofia and their three children went to the Marivent Palace. It was weeks of posing, trips to the seaside and visits with family. At least, this is the image that was conveyed to citizens. The reality was somewhat further. While today’s queen emeritus devoted herself to caring for her children, King Juan Carlos took advantage of the break to meet with other friends.
Marta Gaya was in the Mallorcan circle of Juan Carlos. His story has been told a thousand times. The now honored figure did not hide his relationship with the businesswoman. He did not do this even in the presence of his wife. But she was not the only one who spent time with the king during the hot summer in Mallorca. Other friendships less known to the public have also been found in the almost endless archive that surrounds the monarch.
In one of the most commented episodes, the main character is a famous model, then head of the Royal House and a plot that could be organized teach the monarch himself a lesson. There was anxiety within Zarzuela about his adventures, which were becoming less secret and more discussed. This appears to have been the trigger for creating a “trap” to prevent the monarch.
Meeting on board the Fortuna
“King Juan Carlos knows that he was on this ship.. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know and I don’t care… But we, the paparazzi, filmed the whole thing going up and down. Juan Carlos was on the boat. We took the photos very far away so they wouldn’t notice.” Journalist Lorena Vazquez speaks. He recounts his testimony on the Public Mirror program. “I witnessed firsthand the possible disappearance of the cover.”
At that time, King Juan Carlos usually spent a lot of time aboard the Fortuna. It was the official yacht of the monarch, on which he sailed, accompanied by Queen Sofia and her children. There he received politicians, representatives of other royal houses and foreign guests whom he wanted to impress. There’s a reason sailing was the royal family’s greatest sport, along with skiing, until Queen Letizia arrived.
“The head of the royal house Sabino Fernandez Campo sets a trap for him”Juan Luis Galiacho noticed some time ago. The journalist, well versed in the ins and outs of both Zarzuela and King Juan Carlos himself, did not hesitate to refer to the existence of these paparazzi photographs. “He did this to prevent things from getting out of control with his lovers,” he said on television. But who was it?
The supposed protagonist of these photographs
“There are images of Antonia Dell’Atte boarding Fortuna in Palma de Mallorca.. There was talk that this was one of Reina Sofia’s biggest troubles,” Gema Lopez also said in the Public Mirror. This was not a new story. Several years earlier, this supposed meeting between the Italian and King Juan Carlos had been covered in Salvama. “They saw a woman come in and it was Antonia, she was there for two hours, came out, they took photos again and never saw the light,” Laura Fa explained on the defunct program.
The Italian was one of the friends of the honored king. Not only because of her marriage to Alessandro Lechio, cousin of the now honorable man, but above all because of her friendship with José Luis de Villalonga, writer and biographer of Juan Carlos. Antonia felt great affection for José Luis. “It was José Luis de Villalonga, the king’s biographer, who introduced her to the monarch’s circle. He takes her to his house in Mallorca, and Antonia boards the Fortuna, the royal ship,” Galiajo explained, according to the Vózpopuli portal.
The reality of these photographs seems somewhat complex. According to what was published at the time, there are photographs of Antonia Dell’Atte visiting the king on a yacht. In fact they were published. Apparently Del Atte attended the evening on the monarch’s yacht with his son Clemente. as did the king’s many friends during the months he spent in Palma de Mallorca. It was then, at that well-known meeting, that photographs were taken. These were the ones who saw the light.
The Italian did not want to comment when this issue was discussed in the Salvame program. Antonia attended dinners and evenings with the monarch. Nothing strange, since the Italian was for some time a direct relative of the honorary man. And all thanks to his relationship with Alessandro Lechio, the king’s cousin and number 27 in the line of succession to the crown.
Friendship between Antonia Del Atte and King Juan Carlos
There was a direct connection between Antonia Del Atte and the honorary king.. It must be borne in mind that Alessandro Lechio, the Italian woman’s partner and the father of her son, is an honorary member of the family. His mother, Alessandra Torlonia, is a cousin of King Juan Carlos, making the collaborator a second cousin of today’s King Felipe. Alessandro knows well the intimate life of the royal family and the secrets of Zarzuela.
Alessandro himself spoke about the king after an audio recording published with Barbara Rey. “I think I know Juan Carlos best because he spent many years in my house.”– he explained in the “Let’s see” program. “He is like that. He seduces you with his conversational way of talking to you, he makes you believe that he trusts things when he does this to everyone. What he did with Barbara Rey is what he usually does, the success of a king is that he charms you and “He wins you over with his conversations. He makes you believe that you are someone special to him, he does that to everyone.”
Pilar Eyre has already spoken on her blog Lecturas about Antonia’s meeting with the honorary man, which took place when the Italian was still married to the count. “During a meal in the house of Alessandro Lechio, he began to tell Doña Sofia about the apparitions of El Escorial, and the queen listened with such delight that Don Juan Carlos finally intervened, shouting from the other end of the table: where he flirted with Antonia Dell’Atte (then married to Lechio): “Do you want to shut up? Can’t you see that this fool believes everything?