Macron dinner for Vargas Llosa and controversial Spanish former king

Peruvian writer and Nobel literature prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa, Spain's former King Juan Carlos I and Infanta Cristina of Spain attend to the ceremony of the French Academy in Paris on 9 February, 2023. © AFP - Emmanuel Dunand

French President Emmanuel Macron will on Friday have dinner with Spain's exiled former king Juan Carlos I and Peruvian Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa. The literature laureate joined the élite French Academy on 9 February.

The 86-year-old novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, who also has Spanish citizenship, controversially invited the former monarch to his inauguration ceremony into the Académie Française on Thursday in Paris.

Vargas Llosa, considered to be one of the most influential Latin American writers, is the first author to become a member of the Académie Française despite never to have written a book in French.

📕 Académie française

🌿M. Mario Vargas Llosa a été reçu en séance solennelle sous la Coupole, ce jeudi 9 février à 15 heures, par M. Daniel Rondeau, au fauteuil de M. Michel Serres (fauteuil n° 18). pic.twitter.com/N4kwESMKTz

— Institut de France (@InstitutFrance) February 9, 2023

Juan Carlos - who turned up for the event - first became king in 1975, overseeing Spain's transition to democracy after the death of dictator Franco.

But he has lived in exile since 2020 in the United Arab Emirates after a series of scandals, including claims that he harassed a former mistress, as well as revelations about his lavish lifestyle and an elephant hunt in Botswana.

Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014 in favour of his son, has made several public appearances recently, including for the funerals of Britain's Elizabeth II and Greece's Constantine II.

Alvaro Vargas Llosa, the novelist's son, on Twitter on Thursday posted a picture of his father, the former king and the monarch's daughter Cristina, praising the king's role in overseeing Spain's transition to a "liberal European democracy".

"Macron, who invited both of them to supper tomorrow along with Spanish writer Javier Cercas, also recognises this," he wrote. Cercas recently interviewed Macron for Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Gracias por lo que usted ha hecho por España. Nadie con un mínimo conocimiento del papel que ha jugado para que España sea una democracia liberal europea puede dejar de reconocérselo. Macron, que los ha invitado a ambos a cenar mañana junto con Javier Cercas, lo reconoce también. pic.twitter.com/HqtGrBzeFD

— Álvaro Vargas Llosa (@AlvaroVargasLl) February 9, 2023

It was not immediately clear where the dinner was to take place.