Editor's note: Freddie Reidy is a freelance writer based in London. He studied history and history of art at the University of Kent, Canterbury, specializing in Russian history and international politics. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Juan Carlos I was once viewed as the savior of a nation, but now, having abdicated in 2014, he has felt compelled to flee the nation in self-imposed exile. His whereabouts were unknown until he surfaced in an Abu Dhabi luxury hotel. Accused of financial impropriety, the 82-year-old left Spain at short notice on Monday. But who is Juan Carlos de Borbón, and what has driven such a rapid fall from grace?

To the 83 million foreign visitors to Spain's famous coastlines, the gastronomic heartlands of San Sebastian and Barcelona, or the rolling hills of Navarra, it may be of some surprise that just over a generation ago, Spain was under a dictatorship.

From 1936 to 1939, Spain was engulfed in a civil war between left-wing factions supported by the Soviet Union and an alliance of right-wing groups supported by Italy and Germany. The scale of brutality that ravaged the nation was immortalized by Pablo Picasso's painting "Guernica," which depicted the modern total war.

With Mussolini and Hitler's support, the right-wing General Franco eventually emerged the victor. In 1947, Franco appointed himself as lifetime regent.

As Franco's health deteriorated in the 1970s, he began to search for a successor. In keeping with his autocratic regal preference, the monarchy was restored, not with the heir apparent, but his son, Juan Carlos, who he believed was sympathetic to a Francoist vision for Spain.

In public, the young prince was loyal to Franco, praising Franco's policies and speaking in support of the nation's growing economy under the regime. In secret, Juan Carlos was laying the groundwork for a very different nation. Juan Carlos was secretly meeting with opposition leaders and those exiled by the right-wing dictator, at great personal risk.

In 1975 Franco died, naming Juan Carlos his successor and King of Spain. Safely installed, the new king set about his reforms, dismissing the existing prime minister and appointing Adolfo Suárez, who would win Spain's first elections.

Juan Carlos was instrumental in bringing together former foes despite the Cold War tension and the civil war's legacy. Juan Carlos had called for the recognition of the Communist Party of Spain, which became law in 1977.

Arguably the king's most significant move came in 1981 during an attempted coup. A hard-line, right-wing, rebel faction from the military held both chambers of Spain's parliament hostage. Juan Carlos, adorned in the uniform of the supreme head of the Spanish military, made a public declaration in support of the elected government, and support for the coup crumbled.

Representing the significance of the king's intervention in protecting the nation's fledgling democracy, Communist leader Santiago Carrillo declared that "Today we are all monarchists."

After the 1982 general election, with both chambers fully populated, Juan Carlos transitioned the monarchy into a constitutional monarchy.

To understand what precipitated his fall from grace is to understand the fragmented nature of Spain's regions, some of which have been agitating for independence for many centuries. While the king enjoyed strong popularity, to separatists, the monarchy is a symbol of Spanish nationhood and is thus an agent of Spanish hegemony.

Since the 2008 crash, Spain's economy has been in a perilous state, and when in 2012, Juan Carlos was discovered to have taken part in an elephant hunt in Botswana, he again found himself a symbol, this time, of decadence and hypocrisy. The trip was said to have cost twice the average wage of a Spanish worker. The affair rumbled on, leading to Juan Carlos' "retirement" and handover to his son Felipe.

Now an investigation was sparked by a claim that a former mistress had received 100 million U.S. dollars deposited in offshore accounts. The allegation is that the king had received the money from Saudi Arabia as a kickback in relation to Spain's high-speed rail network.

As Spain battles another economic crisis in the form of COVID-19, this latest scandal is a lightning rod for a national sentiment of frustration in relation to inequality, corruption and hypocrisy.

The image of the former king secretly fleeing the country for the opulence of a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi is the embodiment of what many Spaniards feel is wrong with the elite in Spanish society – out of touch with contemporary realities and seemingly above the law.

To prevent a constitutional emergency, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez commented that "people are judged, not institutions." Irrespective of the veracity of this analysis, it would appear that Spain has found their former king guilty. It would be wrong, though, to overlook Juan Carlos' vital role in stewarding Spain from dictatorship to democracy, and he should at least be afforded a right to defend himself.

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