"The king sometimes has called this son's high school and asked for the son be absent, like an ordinary father," said Juan Marichal Smith Professor of the French and Sparnth Languages and Literatures.

When skiing Juan Carios "waits in the lift line with everyone else." Marichal added.

And according to Corbello, "He lives in a smaller house than the First Minister... and has less security too."

But the down home king has maintained his political profile. Through a state trip to South Aamerica last year, Juan Carlos has offered his advice as a veteran of democratization.

"He represents more than the past the future for Latin America the possibility of a democratic future for Spanish-speaking nations," said Marichal.

Public response in South America to the visit was overwhelmingly positive Uruguayan people shouted "Long live the democratic king!" to the dismay of the country's military government and Venezuela gave him the Bolivar Medal in honor of "the Liberator," Simon Bolivar.

Juan Carles, who comes from the centuries-old Bourbon dynasty, was born in 1936 in Rome, where his family moved during the Spanish Civil War. He returned to Spain at age nine and was educated in the military and the law. His wife, Princess Sophia of Greece, has a Ph.D. and reportedly teaches at the University of Madrid. The couple has three children--two daughters and a son--in high school in Madrid.

Each of the last three years, internationally prominent figures have turned down Harvard's offer to speak at Commencement. Three years ago. President Reagan declined Harvard's offer, and Thomas J. Watson Jr., former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and chairman of IBM, gave the address.

Two years ago Harvard selected Professor of Greek Emeritus John H. Finley '25, after Jihan Sadat, widow of the slain Egyptian leader, said she could not make it.

Last year, Fuentes accepted when Walesa sent word that he feared permanent exile if he came to Harvard to speak