The Spanish royal family has been compelled to disclaim that scandal-hit former king Juan Carlos is ‘significantly unwell’ after rumours started circulating within the nation’s media.
Pilar Eyre, considered a number one skilled on the Spanish royal household, sparked concern on Monday when she tweeted that the 83-year-old ‘is in a critical situation and the Royal Family is contemplating the potential of transferring him to Spain‘.
The rumours had been shortly downplayed by the royal family which insisted Juan Carlos is in good well being, with Hola! journal carrying a quote from the king which mentioned: ‘I am excellent. I do two hours gymnasium daily and I really feel advantageous.’
Spain’s Royal Family has been compelled to disclaim rumours that former king Juan Carlos, 83, is ‘significantly unwell’ after rumours started circulating within the nation’s media
Pilar Eyre, an skilled on the royal household, sparked the rumours with this tweet, which added that the scandal-hit royal could return from self-imposed exile for remedy
The rumours started after current photos of the monarch – who abdicated the throne in 2014 after which fled to Abu Dhabi final 12 months amid a tax investigation – have proven him trying frail.
One image, taken in December final 12 months, exhibits the King Emeritus in his Center Japanese bolt-hole being supported by two bodyguards whereas strolling in a marina.
It was the primary picture to emerge of Juan Carlos since he was pictured arriving in Abu Dhabi in the beginning of August final 12 months.
The monarch left Spain after Swiss prosecutors opened an investigation into financial institution accounts he allegedly held in tax havens.
He checked right into a £10,000-a-night presidential suite on the seven-star Emirates Palace following his arrival.
The chance he would return to Madrid for Christmas had polarised the political debate in Spain within the run-up to the festive season earlier than it was dominated out by Juan Carlos himself.
He attributed his resolution to the coronavirus pandemic and the very fact he was a high-risk individual due to his age.
Reviews on the time, refuted by Spain’s Royal Family, mentioned he had been admitted to a personal clinic in Abu Dhabi after testing constructive for coronavirus.
Juan Carlos is going through three separate prison probes in Spain.
Juan Carlos, who’s married to Queen Sofia, 81, left Spain in August lat 12 months after prosecutors introduced investigations into his funds
One is expounded to using bank cards linked to international accounts after his June 2014 abdication when he misplaced his constitutional safety in opposition to prosecution as a serving monarch.
Prosecutors try to determine if the monarch accessed funds deposited in accounts held by a Mexican businessman and a Spanish Air Drive official.
Spain has additionally launched its personal investigation primarily based partly on data shared by Switzerland about money Juan Carlos allegedly acquired as a part of his involvement in a high-speed Saudi Arabia rail contract.
In December, the ex-monarch’s lawyer introduced he had paid greater than £600,000 in back-taxes with curiosity and surcharges for the years since his abdication.
Spanish authorities responded by saying they had been analysing the tax funds to see in the event that they had been ‘spontaneous, truthful and full.’
Juan Carlos’ shock departure from Spain in the beginning of August led to an intense questioning of the nation’s monarchy led by left-wing vice-president Pablo Iglesias.
A number of interviews by the previous king’s ex-mistress Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, now dwelling within the UK, haven’t helped.
She was implicated within the scandal surrounding Juan Carlos’ rule after it emerged he had given her a present of £57million.
The 57-year-old blonde has claimed he gave her the money present as a result of he was ‘adamant about taking good care of her.’
She additionally insisted in a TV interview final 12 months Juan Carlos was the ‘architect of his personal issues’ and described his Center East exile because the ‘final defeat.’
Juan Carlos abdicated the throne in 2014 for ‘private causes’ and handed management of the nation to his son, who’s now King Felipe VI (pictured proper with daughter Leonor)
Spain’s present king, Juan Carlos’ son Felipe VI, made a veiled dig at his exiled father and the scandals surrounding his household in his Christmas speech.
He mentioned in a televised tackle that ‘ethics are above household ties.’ The final picture of Juan Carlos was taken on December 29 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, residence to the Yas Marina Circuit which is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Juan Carlos, in his letter to Spain’s present king Felipe VI asserting his resolution to go away his homeland, wrote ‘Guided by my conviction I can supply the perfect service to Spaniards, its establishments and to you as King, I’m speaking my resolution to maneuver away from Spain.
‘It is a resolution I’m taking with deep feeling however with nice serenity. I’ve been King of Spain for nearly 40 years and through that complete time, I’ve at all times wished the perfect for Spain and for the Crown.’
He signed off the letter: ‘With affection as at all times, your father.’
It later emerged he had already left Spain by the point the letter was launched by the Royal Family.
His departure sparked blended reactions, with monarchists and right-wing politicians accusing the federal government of forcing him into exile and critics of the previous king accusing him of an beginner try to guard himself and his son from the corruption scandals threatening the way forward for Spain’s dwindling royal household.
Barcelona-based writer Pilar Eyre, an skilled on the Spanish royal household, made an explosive declare about Juan Carlos and Diana in a e-book she printed in 2012.
She mentioned the Spanish monarch made a go at her throughout a vacation Diana and Charles spent with their son on the king’s summer time palace in Majorca in 1986.
In keeping with Eyre, the king made a ‘tactile’ advance to Diana, then simply 25.
Diana herself denied something untoward had occurred however admitted that whereas the libidinous king was ‘charming’ he might be a ‘little too attentive.’
Who’s Spain’s former king, Juan Carlos I?
Juan Carlos I reigned as king of Spain from November 1975 till his abdication in June 2014
Juan Carlos I reigned as king of Spain from November 1975 till his abdication in June 2014.
He was a well-liked monarch for many of his four-decade reign who performed a essential function within the nation’s transition to democracy.
He’s the grandson of Alfonso XIII, the final king of Spain earlier than the abolition of the monarchy in 1931 and the next declaration of the Second Spanish Republic.
Juan Carlos was born in Rome, Italy, on January 5, 1938, throughout his household’s exile. He got here to Spain in 1947 to proceed his research and entered the Zaragoza navy academy.
He accomplished his tertiary schooling on the College of Madrid and went on to marry Princess Sofia of Greece and Denmark in Athens in 1962.
They went on to have two daughters and a son collectively: Elena, Cristina, and Felipe.
Juan Carlos first started periodically performing as Spain’s head of state in the summertime of 1974. Fascist dictator Francisco Franco died in November the next 12 months and Juan Carlos turned king on 22 November 1975, two days after Franco’s demise.
Juan Carlos was hailed for his function in Spain’s transition to democracy and reforms to dismantle the Francoist regime.
Nonetheless the King and the monarchy’s fame started to undergo after controversies surrounding his household arose.
In April 2012, Juan Carlos confronted criticism for an elephant-hunting journey in Botswana throughout a time of monetary disaster in Spain.
The general public discovered in regards to the journey solely after the King injured himself and a particular plane was despatched to convey him residence.
Pictured left to proper: Then-Princess Letizia , Prince Felipe, Queen Sofia and King Juan Carlos pose for a photograph in 2009
Spanish officers acknowledged that the bills of the journey weren’t paid by taxpayers or by the palace, however by Syrian businessman Mohamed Eyad Kayali.
Corruption scandals circling the royal household closed in when his daughter, Princess Cristina, was accused of tax fraud in 2014 and have become the primary Spanish royal to face trial. She was later acquitted, however her husband was sentenced.
He abdicated in favour of his son, Prince Felipe, in 2014, and final 12 months, Juan Carlos introduced his resolution to withdraw from public life, ending his remaining institutional features and appearances from June 2019. Final August, he efficiently underwent coronary heart surgical procedure in Madrid.
In June 2020, Spain’s supreme court docket prosecutor opened an investigation into Juan Carlos’ involvement in a high-speed rail contract in Saudi Arabia that was granted to a bunch of Spanish firms in 2011.
King Felipe renounced his personal inheritance and stripped his father of his palace allowance in March after stories the latter acquired $100 million from the late Saudi king and gave thousands and thousands to a businesswoman.
