Spanish former King Juan Carlos to visit Spain after 2-year exile

Spanish former King Juan Carlos to visit Spain after 2-year exile
May 19, 2022, 10:41 am

(L) Former King Juan Carlos, (R) King Felipe - Reuters

Former Spanish King Juan Carlos is set to visit Spain later on Thursday (May 19). It is his first visit since he departed to Abu Dhabi in 2020 under a cloud of financial scandals that shook the Royal House.

The Royal House said in a statement on Wednesday evening, the former monarch will go to Sanxenxo in the northern region of Galicia to attend a sailing regatta and end his trip on Monday with a visit to his son, King Felipe, in Madrid.

The statement said that Juan Carlos. 84, will not stay in the Zarzuela palace in Madrid, the king's official residence.

Once revered for his role in the country's transition to democracy, the popularity of the former king fell drastically after a whirlwind of scandals that included an affair with Danish national Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein Sayn and the shooting of an elephant in Botswana. He abdicated the throne in 2014.

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According to the report, the former monarch left Spain for Abu Dhabi in August 2020 after several investigations opened in Spain and Switzerland over alleged fraud.

It said that he now keeps his permanent residence in the Gulf state but said in March he would visit Spain frequently after prosecutors dropped the investigations.

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The report noted that Juan Carlos could face trial in Britain in a harassment case brought against him by his former lover Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Source: anews

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