Scandal-hit King Juan Carlos stuns Spain with shock abdication
PUBLISHED: 08:52 GMT, 2 June 2014
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Outgoing: King Juan Carlos in his first official appearance after his abdication announcement this morning, at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid
King Juan Carlos I of Spain announced his abdication today after 39 years on the throne to 'open a new era of hope for a younger generation'.
The 76-year-old - who made the surprise announcement in a televised address today - will hand the throne to his son, Prince Felipe, 46, and his glamorous wife Letizia, a former award-winning newsreader and divorcee.
He is the third European monarch to abdicate in just over a year after King Albert II of Belgium gave his crown to son Philippe last July, three months after Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands made way for her firstborn, Prince Willem-Alexander.
Juan Carlos, who oversaw his country's transition from dictatorship to democracy, has seen the twilight of his monarchy blighted by scandal and health problems, including five operations in the last two years.
His popularity nosedived in the face of a string of corruption scandals and gaffes in recent years, including the infamous photograph of him posing - gun on hip - next to a dead elephant in Botswana while his homeland wallowed in its 2012 financial crisis.
And today a source at the royal palace said the king was abdicating for political reasons - rather than due to failing health - as the country faces up to the worst economic crisis in memory.
Seated in front of a Spanish flag, the King told his subjects: ‘I have decided to end my reign and abdicate the crown of Spain. A new generation is quite rightly demanding to take the lead role.’
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In the family: King Juan Carlos (far right) will hand the crown to his son, Prince Felipe (centre), pictured with Princess Letizia watching an air display in 2006
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Unpopular: Juan Carlos' popularity has nosedived in recent years following royal scandals, including an elephant-shooting trip in Botswana he took in the middle of Spain's financial crisis in 2012 that tarnished the monarch's image
His announcement, coming on the 61st anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation, will, inevitably, spark speculation about the future of the British monarchy.
But the Queen has always made clear that she will stand by her promise to serve as sovereign for the rest of her life.
He was pictured today at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid in his first official appearance following the abdication announcement, in order to greet Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive of the US Chamber of Commerce.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers said that unlike King Juan Carlos, who is in poor health and has faced a slump in his popularity, the Queen, who is 88, is ‘firing on all cylinders’.
He said: ‘The Queen is not likely to abdicate. We know from various biographies that she was pretty irritated when Queen Juliana of the Netherlands - Queen Beatrix’s mother - abdicated in the 1980s because monarchs shouldn’t abdicate.
‘Abdication put her father on the throne so abdication is a pretty unpopular word within the Queen’s household.’
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Final handshake: The Twitter account of Spain's royal family published photos of King Juan Carlos I offering his letter of abdication to the country's Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy
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The new king and queen: Prince Felipe married Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, an award-winning television journalist formerly with CNN, in 2003. Despite the fact she is a divorcee, the public generally approved of Letizia since she represented the modern woman
Juan Carlos came to power in 1975, two days after the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco.
Known - like his namesake, the great lothario Don Juan - as a prolific seducer, he is said to have bedded more than 1,500 women, among whom is rumoured have been Princess Diana.
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Royalty: Princess Letizia at an awards ceremony in Madrid last December
As a young and energetic statesman, he endeared himself to many Spaniards by putting down an attempted military coup in 1981.
And as Spain's new democracy matured over the years, the king played a largely figurehead role, travelling the globe as an ambassador for the country, and was a stabilising force in a country with restive, independence-minded regions such as the Basque region and Catalonia.
Juan Carlos has melded the trappings of royalty with down-to-earth, regular-guy charm. The king is an avid sports fan and after the Madrid terror bombings of March 11, 2004, showed he could grieve like anyone else.
At an emotional state funeral for the 191 people killed in the train bombings by Islamic militants, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia slowly went row-by-row through Madrid's Almudena Cathedral, clasping the hands of sobbing mourners or kissing them on the cheek.
But his patient work nearly came undone during the financial crisis by the now-infamous elephant shoot in Botswana that resulted in him being pilloried across Spain and removed by conservation group WWF as its honorary president.
Despite his apology to the Spanish people for the hunting trip, which only came to light when he was flown home from Africa after breaking a hip, an online petition calling for his resignation from the WWF post accumulated almost 85,000 signatures.
The controversy prompted Spanish newspapers to publish a photo of the king on a previous safari, in which he is seen standing with a gun beside a dead elephant.
'Although this type of hunting is legal and regulated, many members consider it to be incompatible with the position of honorary patron of an international organisation that aims to protect the environment,' WWF said at the time.
But his monarchy has also been heavily blighted by an investigation into his son-in law, Inaki Urdangarin.
THE RISE AND RISE OF QUEEN LETIZIA: HOW A MIDDLE-CLASS NEWSREADER BECAME THE WORLD'S MOST GLAMOROUS QUEEN
Stylish, smart and beautiful, Princess Letizia is Spain's answer to Britain's Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge.
Letizia Ortiz, from Asturias the north west of Spain, married Prince Felipe de Borbon ten years ago at Cathedral Santa María la Real de la Almudena in Madrid.
On her big day the royal bride dazzled in an ivory gown with a 15-foot-long train and a sparkling platinum and diamond tiara, which her mother-in-law Queen Sofia wore for her wedding almost exactly 42 years previously.
Anchorwoman: In the years leading up to the couple's engagement in November 2003, she had become a household name in Spain as a reporter and TV anchor, covering historic events such as the 9/11 attacks in New York and the Iraq war
Letizia comes from non-aristocratic stock: she is the eldest daughter of Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez, a journalist, and first wife María de la Paloma Rocasolano Rodríguez, a nurse and hospital union representative from a working-class background.
She shops at the supermarket and champions Spanish high street fashion brands such as Zara and Mango, as well as couturiers such as Felipe Varela and Lorenzo Caprile.
Like Kate, her fashion choices are analysed and minutely picked over by the press in Spain.
However, unlike Kate, Letizia forged a stellar career for herself before her marriage.
The glamour queen: The 42 year old Princess Letizia will now become Queen of Spain as her husband the Crown Prince will ascend the throne following his father's shock abdication
In the years leading up to the couple's engagement in November 2003, she had become a household name in Spain as a reporter and TV anchor, covering historic events such as the 9/11 attacks in New York and the Iraq war.
Letizia gave up her high-flying career on marrying Prince Felipe. The couple has since has since had two children, Infanta Leonor de Todos los Santos of Spain, born 31 October 2005 - who is next in line - and Infanta Sofía de Todos los Santos of Spain, born 29 April 2007.
Letizia and Felipe are often spotted taking their daughters to school, with even the day of their tenth wedding anniversary, May 22, being no exception.
The couple marked their wedding anniversary by releasing two new photos of themselves with their daughters. Posted on the Spanish royal family's official Twitter account, the pictures show Felipe and Letizia taking their two girls to school — proving that despite the day's significance, it is a working day like any other.
Happy family: The couple marked their wedding anniversary by releasing two new photos of themselves with their daughters
The family currently lives in a residence located a few dozen metres from the Palace of Zarzuela.
Letizia, who has been described as a 'breath of fresh air' for the Spanish monarchy has been praised for her modern approach to being a princess.
In fact, so modern is she that she will become the first divorcee to become queen in Spain's history.
She wed Alonso Guerrero Pérez, a writer and a high-school literature teacher, on 7 August 1998, in a simple civil ceremony at Almendralejo, in Badajoz, after a 10-year courtship. The couple had no children and divorced in 1999.
As the previous marriage involved only a civil ceremony, the Roman Catholic Church did not consider it canonically valid and therefore did not require an annulment from the Pope to proceed with a Roman Catholic marriage to Felipe, the Prince of Asturias.
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Lothario: Princess Diana is rumoured to be just one of the many young ladies the king, now 74, pursued in a romantic career in which - like his namesake, the seducer Don Juan - he is said to have bedded more than 1,500 women (pictured aboard his yacht 'Fortuna' with Prince Charles and an eight-year-old Prince William)
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Distant: Prince Charles stares into the distance in this 1986 photograph showing him, Diana and the young Princes William and Harry with Queen Sofia and King Carlos of Spain
The Olympic handball medalist turned businessman has been questioned in connection with a corruption scandal involving claims that he embezzled public funds to organise sports events.
Sensationally, his daughter, Princess Cristina, was forced to testify in the fraud and money-laundering case in January, making her the first Spanish royal to be questioned in court since Juan Carlos took the throne.
A judge in Palma de Mallorca is expected to decide soon whether to put Urdangarin on trial on charges of embezzling 6 million euros in public funds through his charity.
The 76-year-old king, whose health is failing and has had five operations in two years, had a reputation as a fun-loving ladies' man who slept with over 1,500 women.
Among them, was alleged to be Princess Diana herself, according to Barcelona-based author Pilar Eyre who has written six books about the Spanish royal family.
THE KING SEDUCER: DID JUAN CARLOS HAVE AFFAIR WITH PRINCESS DIANA?
Just good friends? Juan Carlos is alleged to have once made a pass at Princess Diana while she was on holiday with Prince Charles, a book claimed in 2012
Throughout his reign, Juan Carlos I developed a reputation as a serial womaniser who slept with more than 1,500 women.
He is alleged to have been so luscivious that he once made a pass at Princess Diana while she was on holiday with Prince Charles, a book claimed in 2012.
Author Pilar Eyre claimed in her 2012 book, The Solitude of the Queen, that he was a ‘professional seducer’ who had not shared a bed with his wife for the past 35 years.
Eyre claimed the king made a ‘tactile’ advance to Diana while she and Charles were on holiday in Majorca in the 1980s.
Photographs from the period show Diana was clearly relaxed in the company of Juan Carlos. In one informal pose she’s seen sitting on a settee with him, wearing an off-the-shoulder dress, while Prince *William sits between the king’s legs.
During a 1987 visit, in which Charles and Diana went to Madrid, the king was pictured smiling as he kissed the Princess on the hand in a gesture that left Diana looking flustered.
It followed allegations made in 2004 by Lady Colin Campbell that the princess had a fling with Juan Carlos on a trip to Spain in 1987.
She asserted that the pair were occasional lovers, also *having a brief affair the previous year on a cruise, and that Diana fell into the king of Spain’s arms to take revenge on her own straying husband.
‘Diana did it to make Charles jealous, but it didn’t work,’ said Lady Colin. ‘Charles couldn’t have cared less.’
According to Eyre, rumours of the affair intensified later over the curious case of some photos of Diana in a state of undress. These were touted around the world’s publications, only to be taken off the market when someone in Spain paid $45,000 (£29,000) for them. That someone is rumoured to have been Juan Carlos, who wanted to protect the Princess’s reputation.
Both royal households have denied the claims.
But with Diana long since dead, Eyre has faced criticism over the late timing and relevance of her claims.
Juan Carlos, though he retains an eye for a pretty woman, has made it quite plain that he would never divorce his wife, with whom he has three children and eight grandchildren.
A kiss for a princess: Juan Carlos kisses Diana on the hand as she and Charles greeted him and wife Sophie at Heathrow airport during another trip
Instead, Eyre says she has revealed it for Queen Sofia’s sake. ‘In a macho country like Spain, the king’s womanising image makes him very popular,’ she says. ‘Even the women don’t reproach him. On the contrary, they love him because he has such a seductive manner with them. But they don’t feel the same about poor Queen Sofia.'
Miss Eyre’s book also alleged that Queen Sofia had not slept in the marital bed since 1976 and only remains in the marriage out of ‘a sense of duty’.
She even claimed the queen stumbled upon her husband with one of his alleged lovers, the Spanish film star Sara Montiel, at a friend’s country house in Toledo in 1976.
Eyre claimed Sofia was forced to attend a football match the day afterwards ‘as protocol demanded’, before storming out of the Zarzuela Palace, their official residence, with her children.
Advised to stay with her husband, she was told a break-up would mean she would ‘end up being paid to liven up the parties of the newly rich’.
Miss Eyre added: ‘The role of the queen is sad, she is the loneliest woman in Spain.’
After her first trip to Majorca in 1986, Eyre alleged Diana told her bodyguard Ken Wharfe that Juan Carlos fancied her. The king allegedly made all manner of excuses to get tactile with her and used to love bending down with her and inviting her to stroke his old German shepherd dog, Archie, Eyre claimed.
Another royal biographer, Lady Colin Campbell, has long insisted that the Princess and the king embarked on an affair while on a cruise with their spouses in August 1986, and that they took up with each other again the following summer.
Meanwhile, David Cameron today hailed King Juan Carlos as a 'great friend to the United Kingdom' following his announcement that he is to abdicate.
The Prime Minister wrote to Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy to pay tribute to the King of Spain, who he said had helped the country's transition to democracy.
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Royal friends: King Juan Carlos with Queen Elizabeth II of Britain during her majesty's royal tour of Spain in 1988
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High-power friends: Juan Carlos and wife Queen Sofia meet Pope John Paul II in 2003
Spanish president announces King's decision to abdicate
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'This is my decision to abdicate': The letter Juan Carlos handed to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy today which the Spanish Royal Family posted on Twitter
Asked whether there was merit in monarchs abdicating towards the end of their reign, Downing Street insisted Mr Cameron hoped the Queen would remain on the throne.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'The PM wishes her the longest and happiest of reigns.'
In his letter, Mr Cameron wrote: 'May I take this opportunity to pay tribute to King Juan Carlos who has done so much during his reign to help Spain's successful transition to democracy and who has been a great friend of the United Kingdom.'
Spain does not have a precise law regulating abdication and succession.
Prime minister Rajoy said his cabinet would meet very soon to set out the steps for Prince Felipe to take over as Felipe VI.
HOW A KING WENT FROM NATION'S DARLING TO 'ELEPHANT KILLER'
Stumbling through: Spain's King Juan Carlos stumbles before delivering his speech during the inauguration of the new T-3 terminal at Malaga's Pablo Ruiz Picasso airport March 15, 2010
Once one of the world's most beloved monarchs, King Juan Carlos I has seen his popularity plummet in the wake of a series of scandals that have plagued the last years of his monarchy.
In his early years as king, he was vaunted as an energetic and affable young statesman who paved the way for Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy.
One of his greatest achievements came in 1981 when he was instrumental in supressing a military coup.
Dressed as Captain-General of the Spanish armed forces, he gave a public television broadcast calling for unambiguous support for the legitimate democratic government in a speech widely considered to have helped sway public opinion away from the coup.
In 2004, following the devastating Madrid train bombings that killed 191 and wounded more than 1,800, he went row-by-row through Madrid's Almudena Cathedral during an emotional memorial service for the dead, clasping the hands of sobbing mourners or kissing them on the cheek.
Two years later, he was accused of bear hunting in Russia and shooting Mitrofan, a tame bear raised in captivity, after he had been fed honey spiked with vodka and released to make killing him easier.
By 2006, he came under fire again as critics began to hit out at his family's 'excessive' household spending.
And in 2007, he isolated himself further by telling popular Venezuealan president Hugo Chavez, 'Why don't you shut up,' during the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile.
But his most controversial moment came in July 2012 when he was photographed with a dead elephant in Botwana as Spain reeled from its financial crisis.
That resulted in him being removed by conservation group WWF as its honorary president, in spite of his apology to the nation.
His latter years have also been blighted by health issues.
By 2010, he began to suffer from a range of health problems, having a benign tumour removed from his right lung, followed by hip joint reconstructive surgery in 2012 and surgery on herniated discs a year after that. Then in September 2013 he underwent hip surgery in Madrid, his fifth operation in 18 months.
The country is just pulling out of a difficult and long recession that has seen faith in politicians, the royal family and other institutions all dwindle.
Felipe, 46, has had an increasingly important role in ceremonial events in the past year and has not been stained by the corruption case involving his sister and her husband.
The soon-to-be-crowned king has led a low-key private life with his commoner wife and two daughters, often seen at a cinema in central Madrid or taking his daughters to school.
Royal observers think his lifestyle is informed by both his natural character and his awareness of the times.
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Happy: This family portrait was taken in 1972, three years before Juan Carlos was crowned King of Spain. He and Queen Sofia are pictured with children, (from left) Felipe, Cristina and Elena in the grounds of Zarzuela Palace, Madrid
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Dashing: Juan Carlos has melded the trappings of royalty with down-to-earth, regular-guy charm (pictured with Sofia in 1970)
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The sports-mad king: Juan Carlos is also known to be an avid sports fan, pictured here handing the World Cup trophy to winning Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas as coach Vicente del Bosque looks on at the Royal Palace in Madrid in 2010
'Felipe will have to earn his place in the public's affection starting from a low point, no small task,' said a veteran politician who did not want to be named.
He has taken pains to position himself as a believer in public service rather than one of the easy-living monarchs of the past.
'The current economic crisis ... requires serious reflection as to how the collective spirit can ... recover values that have, in recent times, gone astray,' Felipe said in a 2012 speech, referring to 'generosity, integrity, effort and excellence'.
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Media storm: Spanish newspaper El Pais shows King Juan Carlos signing a document in the Zarzuela Palace opening the way for his abdication
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Television screens show Spain's King Juan Carlos I as he delivers his speech to explain the reasons of his abdication, at a department store in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, today
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Monarch: Customers at a bar in Cadiz, Spain, watch King Juan Carlos announce his plan to step down
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...cate-hand-crown-son-Filipe.html#ixzz33dj0Ch7t
- 76-year-old oversaw his country's transition from dictatorship to democracy
- He has suffered health problems in recent years, with 5 operations in 2 years
- But twilight of his monarchy has been mired in corruption claims and gaffes
- They included the infamous hunting photo with dead elephant in Botswana in 2012, prompting WWF to sack him as honorary president
- Rumoured to have bedded 1,500 women, allegedly including Princess Diana
- He's second European monarch to abdicate in a year after Beatrix of Holland
PUBLISHED: 08:52 GMT, 2 June 2014
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Outgoing: King Juan Carlos in his first official appearance after his abdication announcement this morning, at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid
King Juan Carlos I of Spain announced his abdication today after 39 years on the throne to 'open a new era of hope for a younger generation'.
The 76-year-old - who made the surprise announcement in a televised address today - will hand the throne to his son, Prince Felipe, 46, and his glamorous wife Letizia, a former award-winning newsreader and divorcee.
He is the third European monarch to abdicate in just over a year after King Albert II of Belgium gave his crown to son Philippe last July, three months after Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands made way for her firstborn, Prince Willem-Alexander.
Juan Carlos, who oversaw his country's transition from dictatorship to democracy, has seen the twilight of his monarchy blighted by scandal and health problems, including five operations in the last two years.
His popularity nosedived in the face of a string of corruption scandals and gaffes in recent years, including the infamous photograph of him posing - gun on hip - next to a dead elephant in Botswana while his homeland wallowed in its 2012 financial crisis.
And today a source at the royal palace said the king was abdicating for political reasons - rather than due to failing health - as the country faces up to the worst economic crisis in memory.
Seated in front of a Spanish flag, the King told his subjects: ‘I have decided to end my reign and abdicate the crown of Spain. A new generation is quite rightly demanding to take the lead role.’
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In the family: King Juan Carlos (far right) will hand the crown to his son, Prince Felipe (centre), pictured with Princess Letizia watching an air display in 2006
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Unpopular: Juan Carlos' popularity has nosedived in recent years following royal scandals, including an elephant-shooting trip in Botswana he took in the middle of Spain's financial crisis in 2012 that tarnished the monarch's image
His announcement, coming on the 61st anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation, will, inevitably, spark speculation about the future of the British monarchy.
But the Queen has always made clear that she will stand by her promise to serve as sovereign for the rest of her life.
He was pictured today at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid in his first official appearance following the abdication announcement, in order to greet Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive of the US Chamber of Commerce.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers said that unlike King Juan Carlos, who is in poor health and has faced a slump in his popularity, the Queen, who is 88, is ‘firing on all cylinders’.
He said: ‘The Queen is not likely to abdicate. We know from various biographies that she was pretty irritated when Queen Juliana of the Netherlands - Queen Beatrix’s mother - abdicated in the 1980s because monarchs shouldn’t abdicate.
‘Abdication put her father on the throne so abdication is a pretty unpopular word within the Queen’s household.’
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Final handshake: The Twitter account of Spain's royal family published photos of King Juan Carlos I offering his letter of abdication to the country's Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy
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The new king and queen: Prince Felipe married Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, an award-winning television journalist formerly with CNN, in 2003. Despite the fact she is a divorcee, the public generally approved of Letizia since she represented the modern woman
Juan Carlos came to power in 1975, two days after the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco.
Known - like his namesake, the great lothario Don Juan - as a prolific seducer, he is said to have bedded more than 1,500 women, among whom is rumoured have been Princess Diana.
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Royalty: Princess Letizia at an awards ceremony in Madrid last December
As a young and energetic statesman, he endeared himself to many Spaniards by putting down an attempted military coup in 1981.
And as Spain's new democracy matured over the years, the king played a largely figurehead role, travelling the globe as an ambassador for the country, and was a stabilising force in a country with restive, independence-minded regions such as the Basque region and Catalonia.
Juan Carlos has melded the trappings of royalty with down-to-earth, regular-guy charm. The king is an avid sports fan and after the Madrid terror bombings of March 11, 2004, showed he could grieve like anyone else.
At an emotional state funeral for the 191 people killed in the train bombings by Islamic militants, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia slowly went row-by-row through Madrid's Almudena Cathedral, clasping the hands of sobbing mourners or kissing them on the cheek.
But his patient work nearly came undone during the financial crisis by the now-infamous elephant shoot in Botswana that resulted in him being pilloried across Spain and removed by conservation group WWF as its honorary president.
Despite his apology to the Spanish people for the hunting trip, which only came to light when he was flown home from Africa after breaking a hip, an online petition calling for his resignation from the WWF post accumulated almost 85,000 signatures.
The controversy prompted Spanish newspapers to publish a photo of the king on a previous safari, in which he is seen standing with a gun beside a dead elephant.
'Although this type of hunting is legal and regulated, many members consider it to be incompatible with the position of honorary patron of an international organisation that aims to protect the environment,' WWF said at the time.
But his monarchy has also been heavily blighted by an investigation into his son-in law, Inaki Urdangarin.
THE RISE AND RISE OF QUEEN LETIZIA: HOW A MIDDLE-CLASS NEWSREADER BECAME THE WORLD'S MOST GLAMOROUS QUEEN
Stylish, smart and beautiful, Princess Letizia is Spain's answer to Britain's Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge.
Letizia Ortiz, from Asturias the north west of Spain, married Prince Felipe de Borbon ten years ago at Cathedral Santa María la Real de la Almudena in Madrid.
On her big day the royal bride dazzled in an ivory gown with a 15-foot-long train and a sparkling platinum and diamond tiara, which her mother-in-law Queen Sofia wore for her wedding almost exactly 42 years previously.
Anchorwoman: In the years leading up to the couple's engagement in November 2003, she had become a household name in Spain as a reporter and TV anchor, covering historic events such as the 9/11 attacks in New York and the Iraq war
Letizia comes from non-aristocratic stock: she is the eldest daughter of Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez, a journalist, and first wife María de la Paloma Rocasolano Rodríguez, a nurse and hospital union representative from a working-class background.
She shops at the supermarket and champions Spanish high street fashion brands such as Zara and Mango, as well as couturiers such as Felipe Varela and Lorenzo Caprile.
Like Kate, her fashion choices are analysed and minutely picked over by the press in Spain.
However, unlike Kate, Letizia forged a stellar career for herself before her marriage.
The glamour queen: The 42 year old Princess Letizia will now become Queen of Spain as her husband the Crown Prince will ascend the throne following his father's shock abdication
In the years leading up to the couple's engagement in November 2003, she had become a household name in Spain as a reporter and TV anchor, covering historic events such as the 9/11 attacks in New York and the Iraq war.
Letizia gave up her high-flying career on marrying Prince Felipe. The couple has since has since had two children, Infanta Leonor de Todos los Santos of Spain, born 31 October 2005 - who is next in line - and Infanta Sofía de Todos los Santos of Spain, born 29 April 2007.
Letizia and Felipe are often spotted taking their daughters to school, with even the day of their tenth wedding anniversary, May 22, being no exception.
The couple marked their wedding anniversary by releasing two new photos of themselves with their daughters. Posted on the Spanish royal family's official Twitter account, the pictures show Felipe and Letizia taking their two girls to school — proving that despite the day's significance, it is a working day like any other.
Happy family: The couple marked their wedding anniversary by releasing two new photos of themselves with their daughters
The family currently lives in a residence located a few dozen metres from the Palace of Zarzuela.
Letizia, who has been described as a 'breath of fresh air' for the Spanish monarchy has been praised for her modern approach to being a princess.
In fact, so modern is she that she will become the first divorcee to become queen in Spain's history.
She wed Alonso Guerrero Pérez, a writer and a high-school literature teacher, on 7 August 1998, in a simple civil ceremony at Almendralejo, in Badajoz, after a 10-year courtship. The couple had no children and divorced in 1999.
As the previous marriage involved only a civil ceremony, the Roman Catholic Church did not consider it canonically valid and therefore did not require an annulment from the Pope to proceed with a Roman Catholic marriage to Felipe, the Prince of Asturias.
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Lothario: Princess Diana is rumoured to be just one of the many young ladies the king, now 74, pursued in a romantic career in which - like his namesake, the seducer Don Juan - he is said to have bedded more than 1,500 women (pictured aboard his yacht 'Fortuna' with Prince Charles and an eight-year-old Prince William)
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Distant: Prince Charles stares into the distance in this 1986 photograph showing him, Diana and the young Princes William and Harry with Queen Sofia and King Carlos of Spain
The Olympic handball medalist turned businessman has been questioned in connection with a corruption scandal involving claims that he embezzled public funds to organise sports events.
Sensationally, his daughter, Princess Cristina, was forced to testify in the fraud and money-laundering case in January, making her the first Spanish royal to be questioned in court since Juan Carlos took the throne.
A judge in Palma de Mallorca is expected to decide soon whether to put Urdangarin on trial on charges of embezzling 6 million euros in public funds through his charity.
The 76-year-old king, whose health is failing and has had five operations in two years, had a reputation as a fun-loving ladies' man who slept with over 1,500 women.
Among them, was alleged to be Princess Diana herself, according to Barcelona-based author Pilar Eyre who has written six books about the Spanish royal family.
THE KING SEDUCER: DID JUAN CARLOS HAVE AFFAIR WITH PRINCESS DIANA?
Just good friends? Juan Carlos is alleged to have once made a pass at Princess Diana while she was on holiday with Prince Charles, a book claimed in 2012
Throughout his reign, Juan Carlos I developed a reputation as a serial womaniser who slept with more than 1,500 women.
He is alleged to have been so luscivious that he once made a pass at Princess Diana while she was on holiday with Prince Charles, a book claimed in 2012.
Author Pilar Eyre claimed in her 2012 book, The Solitude of the Queen, that he was a ‘professional seducer’ who had not shared a bed with his wife for the past 35 years.
Eyre claimed the king made a ‘tactile’ advance to Diana while she and Charles were on holiday in Majorca in the 1980s.
Photographs from the period show Diana was clearly relaxed in the company of Juan Carlos. In one informal pose she’s seen sitting on a settee with him, wearing an off-the-shoulder dress, while Prince *William sits between the king’s legs.
During a 1987 visit, in which Charles and Diana went to Madrid, the king was pictured smiling as he kissed the Princess on the hand in a gesture that left Diana looking flustered.
It followed allegations made in 2004 by Lady Colin Campbell that the princess had a fling with Juan Carlos on a trip to Spain in 1987.
She asserted that the pair were occasional lovers, also *having a brief affair the previous year on a cruise, and that Diana fell into the king of Spain’s arms to take revenge on her own straying husband.
‘Diana did it to make Charles jealous, but it didn’t work,’ said Lady Colin. ‘Charles couldn’t have cared less.’
According to Eyre, rumours of the affair intensified later over the curious case of some photos of Diana in a state of undress. These were touted around the world’s publications, only to be taken off the market when someone in Spain paid $45,000 (£29,000) for them. That someone is rumoured to have been Juan Carlos, who wanted to protect the Princess’s reputation.
Both royal households have denied the claims.
But with Diana long since dead, Eyre has faced criticism over the late timing and relevance of her claims.
Juan Carlos, though he retains an eye for a pretty woman, has made it quite plain that he would never divorce his wife, with whom he has three children and eight grandchildren.
A kiss for a princess: Juan Carlos kisses Diana on the hand as she and Charles greeted him and wife Sophie at Heathrow airport during another trip
Instead, Eyre says she has revealed it for Queen Sofia’s sake. ‘In a macho country like Spain, the king’s womanising image makes him very popular,’ she says. ‘Even the women don’t reproach him. On the contrary, they love him because he has such a seductive manner with them. But they don’t feel the same about poor Queen Sofia.'
Miss Eyre’s book also alleged that Queen Sofia had not slept in the marital bed since 1976 and only remains in the marriage out of ‘a sense of duty’.
She even claimed the queen stumbled upon her husband with one of his alleged lovers, the Spanish film star Sara Montiel, at a friend’s country house in Toledo in 1976.
Eyre claimed Sofia was forced to attend a football match the day afterwards ‘as protocol demanded’, before storming out of the Zarzuela Palace, their official residence, with her children.
Advised to stay with her husband, she was told a break-up would mean she would ‘end up being paid to liven up the parties of the newly rich’.
Miss Eyre added: ‘The role of the queen is sad, she is the loneliest woman in Spain.’
After her first trip to Majorca in 1986, Eyre alleged Diana told her bodyguard Ken Wharfe that Juan Carlos fancied her. The king allegedly made all manner of excuses to get tactile with her and used to love bending down with her and inviting her to stroke his old German shepherd dog, Archie, Eyre claimed.
Another royal biographer, Lady Colin Campbell, has long insisted that the Princess and the king embarked on an affair while on a cruise with their spouses in August 1986, and that they took up with each other again the following summer.
Meanwhile, David Cameron today hailed King Juan Carlos as a 'great friend to the United Kingdom' following his announcement that he is to abdicate.
The Prime Minister wrote to Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy to pay tribute to the King of Spain, who he said had helped the country's transition to democracy.
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Royal friends: King Juan Carlos with Queen Elizabeth II of Britain during her majesty's royal tour of Spain in 1988
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High-power friends: Juan Carlos and wife Queen Sofia meet Pope John Paul II in 2003
Spanish president announces King's decision to abdicate
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'This is my decision to abdicate': The letter Juan Carlos handed to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy today which the Spanish Royal Family posted on Twitter
Asked whether there was merit in monarchs abdicating towards the end of their reign, Downing Street insisted Mr Cameron hoped the Queen would remain on the throne.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'The PM wishes her the longest and happiest of reigns.'
In his letter, Mr Cameron wrote: 'May I take this opportunity to pay tribute to King Juan Carlos who has done so much during his reign to help Spain's successful transition to democracy and who has been a great friend of the United Kingdom.'
Spain does not have a precise law regulating abdication and succession.
Prime minister Rajoy said his cabinet would meet very soon to set out the steps for Prince Felipe to take over as Felipe VI.
HOW A KING WENT FROM NATION'S DARLING TO 'ELEPHANT KILLER'
Stumbling through: Spain's King Juan Carlos stumbles before delivering his speech during the inauguration of the new T-3 terminal at Malaga's Pablo Ruiz Picasso airport March 15, 2010
Once one of the world's most beloved monarchs, King Juan Carlos I has seen his popularity plummet in the wake of a series of scandals that have plagued the last years of his monarchy.
In his early years as king, he was vaunted as an energetic and affable young statesman who paved the way for Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy.
One of his greatest achievements came in 1981 when he was instrumental in supressing a military coup.
Dressed as Captain-General of the Spanish armed forces, he gave a public television broadcast calling for unambiguous support for the legitimate democratic government in a speech widely considered to have helped sway public opinion away from the coup.
In 2004, following the devastating Madrid train bombings that killed 191 and wounded more than 1,800, he went row-by-row through Madrid's Almudena Cathedral during an emotional memorial service for the dead, clasping the hands of sobbing mourners or kissing them on the cheek.
Two years later, he was accused of bear hunting in Russia and shooting Mitrofan, a tame bear raised in captivity, after he had been fed honey spiked with vodka and released to make killing him easier.
By 2006, he came under fire again as critics began to hit out at his family's 'excessive' household spending.
And in 2007, he isolated himself further by telling popular Venezuealan president Hugo Chavez, 'Why don't you shut up,' during the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile.
But his most controversial moment came in July 2012 when he was photographed with a dead elephant in Botwana as Spain reeled from its financial crisis.
That resulted in him being removed by conservation group WWF as its honorary president, in spite of his apology to the nation.
His latter years have also been blighted by health issues.
By 2010, he began to suffer from a range of health problems, having a benign tumour removed from his right lung, followed by hip joint reconstructive surgery in 2012 and surgery on herniated discs a year after that. Then in September 2013 he underwent hip surgery in Madrid, his fifth operation in 18 months.
The country is just pulling out of a difficult and long recession that has seen faith in politicians, the royal family and other institutions all dwindle.
Felipe, 46, has had an increasingly important role in ceremonial events in the past year and has not been stained by the corruption case involving his sister and her husband.
The soon-to-be-crowned king has led a low-key private life with his commoner wife and two daughters, often seen at a cinema in central Madrid or taking his daughters to school.
Royal observers think his lifestyle is informed by both his natural character and his awareness of the times.
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Happy: This family portrait was taken in 1972, three years before Juan Carlos was crowned King of Spain. He and Queen Sofia are pictured with children, (from left) Felipe, Cristina and Elena in the grounds of Zarzuela Palace, Madrid
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Dashing: Juan Carlos has melded the trappings of royalty with down-to-earth, regular-guy charm (pictured with Sofia in 1970)
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The sports-mad king: Juan Carlos is also known to be an avid sports fan, pictured here handing the World Cup trophy to winning Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas as coach Vicente del Bosque looks on at the Royal Palace in Madrid in 2010
'Felipe will have to earn his place in the public's affection starting from a low point, no small task,' said a veteran politician who did not want to be named.
He has taken pains to position himself as a believer in public service rather than one of the easy-living monarchs of the past.
'The current economic crisis ... requires serious reflection as to how the collective spirit can ... recover values that have, in recent times, gone astray,' Felipe said in a 2012 speech, referring to 'generosity, integrity, effort and excellence'.
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Media storm: Spanish newspaper El Pais shows King Juan Carlos signing a document in the Zarzuela Palace opening the way for his abdication
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Television screens show Spain's King Juan Carlos I as he delivers his speech to explain the reasons of his abdication, at a department store in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, today
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Monarch: Customers at a bar in Cadiz, Spain, watch King Juan Carlos announce his plan to step down
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