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Date Published: 18/05/2022

ARCHIVED - Disgraced former king returns to Spain from exile

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Spain’s former king will be allowed to return after several court cases against him were dropped

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Disgraced former king returns to Spain from exile

Juan Carlos I fled from Spain under a cloud of suspicion and financial scandal two years ago and has been living in the UAE in self-imposed exile ever since, but the disgraced former monarch is set to return to his homeland this coming weekend and be reunited with his son, the current King of Spain Felipe VI.

Although many believe Juan Carlos remains a “toxic asset” to the generally well-liked Spanish Royal Family, his return has been allowed since both Spain and Switzerland have dropped court cases against him.

For many years, the former King was applauded for his pivotal role in moving Spain from a dictatorship to a democracy after he subdued an attempted coup in 1981 and, although he was always known as a bit of a philanderer, his reputation finally caught up with him in 2012. With the country deep in recession, Spaniards were scandalised when the news broke that Juan Carlos had broken his hip on an extravagant safari in Botswana with his mistress, and public opinion began to sway.

This was only the start of his woes, as two short years later, a number of financial scandals emerged, mortifying the Royal Family and resulting in Juan Carlos abdicating the throne.

Controversy has followed him ever since, and in 2020 it was revealed that the former king had created an off-shore inheritance fund for his son while he was still on the throne; Felipe stripped Juan Carlos of his annual 194,000 euro stipend and has not met publicly with his father since then.

Earlier this year, Spain dropped its investigations into the multi-million euro dodgy deals headed by Juan Carlos, citing a lack of evidence and the former king’s constitutional immunity.

However, one major case is still pending: a harassment lawsuit brought against him in the UK by his ex-lover, Danish socialite and businesswoman Corinna Larsen. During the course of their five-year affair, Ms Larsen claims that Juan Carlos carried out unlawful surveillance on her British home using Spanish funds, paying members of Spain’s spy agency to break into her house, and one time even leaving a book about Princess Diana’s death on her coffee table.

The former monarch denies any wrongdoing and no date has yet been set for the trial.

Juan Carlos is expected to meet King Felipe VI in Madrid in the coming days and although his visit has caused much controversy, it appears that most people in Spain are more concerned about rising inflation and the increasing cost of living that an impending Royal visit.

Image: Archive

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