The Spanish royal family has confirmed that the infamous former king Juan Carlos is in the United Arab Emirates, two weeks after it was announced that he was leaving the country in an attempt to protect the crown from mounting control of his financial dealings.
The announcement set off an international guessing game, with Portugal and the Dominican Republic suggested as potential destinations for the 82-year-old.
Days later came a draw. A photo published by the NIUS media group shows a man resembling Juan Carlos descending from an airplane with a face mask.
The ABC newspaper went into detail, reporting that he had flown in a private plane to Abu Dhabi and was staying at the government-owned Emirates Palace hotel, where a suite could cost up to € 11,000 (£ 10,000 a night). ).
A spokesman for Spain’s royal family said on Monday that the former king had “indicated to the royal family to communicate that he was traveling to the United Arab Emirates on August 3 and that is where he is currently staying”.
The household refused to indicate if he was in Abu Dhabi or to answer questions about how long he intends to stay in the UAE.
A cloud of accusations has swirled around Juan Carlos in recent years, undermining the monarchy’s fragile grip and escaping the popularity of a leader who played a pivotal role in restoring democracy to Spain after Gen’s death. Francisco Franco in 1975.
Juan Carlos resigned in 2014, two years after it was revealed that he had embarked on an elephant hunting trip to Botswana, when Spain was facing the devastation caused by the 2008 financial crisis.
King Felipe withdrew his father from his annual scholarship in March and gave up his personal inheritance after reports that he was on the verge of receiving millions of euros from a secret offshore fund with ties to Saudi Arabia.
Three months later, Spain’s highest court is investigating the role of the former king in a deal in which a Spanish consortium won a € 6.7 billion (£ 5.9 billion) contract for a high-speed railway line. to be built between the Saudi cities of Medina and Mecca.
As pressure grew to take action to protect the monarchy’s reputation, Spain’s royal family published a letter sending Juan Carlos to Felipe, saying he was “moving outside Spain” at this time. , given the “public imitations that certain events in the past generate in my private life”.
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