Fallece Josep Cusí, fiel amigo de Juan Carlos I

Josep Cusí, a loyal friend of Juan Carlos I, passed away in Barcelona on Wednesday at the age of 92. A discreet businessman, Cusí was the skipper of the brihons, the racing boats belonging to the deposed king, but he was also one of his most discreet confidants, having known him since the early 1960s. They first met during a hunting trip organized by Francisco Franco, who also taught Cusí how to shoot.

Cusí suffered a stroke towards the end of 2021, which left him in a coma for a month and caused mobility issues and apparent deterioration of his health. He had a varied career as an electronic engineer, businessman, swimmer, and water polo athlete who competed in the 1968 Mexico Olympics for the shooting event. He was also associated with the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona and the Círculo del Liceo.

Cusí was married for the third time to Inés Muiños, daughter of a prestigious ophthalmologist at the specialized Barraquer clinic in Barcelona, and had six children. He considered himself an adventurer. At 18, he sailed for three months on Jacques Cousteau's Calypso and even participated in the documentary "The Silent Sea," earning him the Legion of Honor medal from French President Jacques de Gaulle.

Cusí was also awarded the medal for sports merit and the Grand Cross of Naval Merit. His relationship with Juan Carlos I was well-known, but it was revealed six years ago by The Telegraph that Cusí had shared partially the royal wedding journey of the current Spanish kings, Felipe VI and Letizia, which cost nearly half a million dollars.

Due to their good relationship, Cusí broke his usual discretion in 2018 to publicly defend the good relationship between the current queen and her predecessor, Queen Sofia, during a Fundación Elena Barraquer event. However, he maintained a close relationship with Juan Carlos I until the very end. Their relationship intensified when the monarch settled in Barcelona to prepare for the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Cusí was one of the team's helpers during the Spanish participation. A year before the Olympic event, they both started sailing their respective boats, the first Bribón, owned by Cusí, and the Shere-Kan, owned by Juan Carlos de Borbón. They would compete together in the Bribón II, with Juan Carlos taking the helm as captain and Cusí managing the team of veterans and discreet crew members.

These racing boats won several competitions over their four decades of navigation. The latest unit of the Bribons began in 2007, but it was not the last boat financed by the Catalan entrepreneur for the monarch. The name "Bribón" was chosen because competing requires being clever, aggressive, and a bit daring. The dog that accompanied Cusí in his last years was a gift from the king.

Journalist Pilar Urbano, in her book "Genio y figura," reported that their close friendship had faced some setbacks when Juan Carlos I attempted to attend some meetings accompanied by Corina Sayn-Wittgenstein, but Cusí explained in a 2012 article in La Vanguardia that he shared with Juan Carlos I that going on a hunting safari in Botswana, which left him with a broken hip, was not a well-considered decision.

In 1983, Cusí said about his relationship with the king, "I do not consider myself his patron, but his servant, on land and sea, in the Bribón and out of it." Cusí's business career, which is less known, began at the age of 16 when he joined his family's electronic components business and contributed to the lighting of various iconic places in Barcelona, such as the Font Màgica of Montjuïc and the churches of Tibidabo and Santa Maria del Mar. At 65, he sold his company.