You would\nthink the King of Spain would have made some reference in his recent television address to the nation that\nfour days earlier he had relinquished his heritage (no not the crown just the\nmoney) and cut off his father\u00b4s public salary. But no, not a word!
\nAs a result of the King Felipe\u2019s masked attempt to save the Spanish monarchy,\nhis father, Juan Carlos, who abdicated in favour of his son in 2014, stands to lose 194,232\neuros annually, paid to him from the General State Budget and King Felipe has attempted\nto renounced his right to the 100 million euros, sitting in a Swiss Bank account,\nproceeds allegedly paid to his father by the Ministry of Finance of Saudi\nArabia in illegal commissions.
\nApparently by cutting his father off from public funds and declining to take advantage\nof the millions stashed in a Swiss bank account to which he is the secondary beneficiary,\nthat is the end of the story. No explanations just a call from the father of\nthe nation, the caring King to his subjects, for solidarity and responsibility\nin the face of the coronavirus scandal.
\nAt least some of his subjects were less than impressed by his omission,\ndrowning out the royal words in a protest of banging saucepans (known rather\ncharmingly as a \u201ccacerolada,\u201d) and some press pundits have raised a whiff of\ndisapproval. But generally this extraordinary royal news has been lost amidst the\nwidespread panic and fear over the coronavirus and the State of Alarm that has\nseen residents all over Spain obliged to self-isolate in their homes.
\nThis latest scandal is, in truth, another in a long list of scandals which have\nplagued Ex-King Juan Carlos who has never been far from controversy in the chequered history of the Spanish monarchy.
\nWhen he was 18 he accidentally shot dead his younger brother while cleaning his\ngun.
\nAt 31 he leapfrogged over his father to be anointed King of Spain by the\ndictator Franco and was subsequently estranged from his exiled father, the man\nwho should have been king, for many years.
\nIn 2014, when Spain was in the grips of a financial crisis, during which many\nhomes were repossessed, unemployment hit an all-time high, and benefits and\nsocial services were cut back causing widespread hardship, King Juan Carlos was\nflown home from Africa in a private plane with a fractured hip after falling\nduring a big game hunt. A picture posted on the Internet showed the King\nstanding proudly beside a dead elephant he had shot. He himself came under\nheavy fire for killing an endangered animal for sport and flagrantly displaying\na \u201dlack of ethics\u201d in the face of a financial\ncrisis in the country of which he was Head of State.
\nIn 2017 I\u00f1aki Urdangarin, ex-handball player for FC\nBarcelona and husband of the daughter of ex-King Juan Carlos, Cristina, was\nfound guilty of tax fraud and condemned to five years imprisonment. When the\ncorruption scandal, Caso Noos, came\nto light the royal couple were relieved of their public duties although\nCristina was subsequently cleared of all offences.
\nIn the latest scandal to hit the besieged ex monarch there have been newspaper\nreports that he received illegal commissions when acting as an intermediary for\ncontracts awarded to Spanish companies, including 50 million euros during the\nsale of the Zaragazono Bank to Barclays in 2003 and 100 million euros while\nmediating a deal for a juicy contract to build the AVE to Meca.
\nIt is alleged that Juan Carlos is the sole beneficiary of a Swiss bank account\n(although Felipe is secondary beneficiary) which is currently being\ninvestigated, both in Switzerland and in Spain, because the funds in the\naccount were, allegedly, illegal commissions paid to Juan Carlos by the\nMinistry of Finance of Saudi Arabia. His position is further complicated by\nrevelations that 800,000 euros was withdrawn from the account by King Juan Carlos\nin 2009 for \u201cpersonal necessities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nSpain generally has always had a fairly benevolent attitude to ex-King Juan\nCarlos, largely due to the debt owed to the King by a nation grateful for his\nstand against an attempted military coup in 1981. During this unfortunate\nchapter in Spanish history, Tejero and various officers from the Guardia Civil carried\nout an armed assault, ostensibly \u201cin the King\u00b4s name\u201d, on the Congress of\nDeputies (several bullet holes from which remain visible in the ceiling of the\nchamber). At the same time General Milans de Bosch drove tanks onto the streets\nof Valencia confident the King would support the coup.
\nHe didn\u00b4t. The \u201ccoup\u201d lasted seven hours.
\nHistorians differ over the King\u00b4s role in this debacle, some even suggesting he\nwas in on the planning of the coup as a solution to the political crisis.\nHowever, indubitably, and for whatever reason, the King chose the right side in\nthe end and democracy was preserved. In the process he won the undying\ngratitude of his subjects which seems to have granted him immunity despite a long\nlist of scandals which would undoubtedly have brought down any other European\nmonarchy.
\nThe Spanish press have reported moves to open a Commission of Investigation in\nthe Congress of Representatives (equivalent to our Houses of Parliament) into\nthe allegations that Juan Carlos was paid commissions for negotiating overseas\ncontracts for Spanish companies. However, the two main political parties, the\nPSOE (Socialists) and the PP (Conservative), for once in harmony, have refused\nto raise the veto which prevents such an investigation.
\nUnder the Spanish Constitution the monarch has \u201cinviolabilidad,\u201d which translated\ninto English means \u201csacred\u201d or \u201cblessed\u201d rather than \u201cinviolable.\u201d In Spanish\nit clearly translates to immunity and impunity and, so far, the PSOE and the\nPP, agree that it may not cover Juan Carlos now but it covers \u201cacts perpetrated\nduring his reign.\u201d
\nPartners in the governing coalition with the PSOE, Podemos, are still pushing\nfor an investigation. Podemos are an unashamedly republican party and,\nunsurprisingly, they have the support of the Catalan, ERC (independents) and\nthe Basque independent party, the PNV.
\nMoreover, it seems that King Felipe may be legally unable to renounce his inheritance.
\nWill this latest scandal of the Teflon ex-King of Spain bring down the Spanish\nmonarchy? Probably not, as the current King of Spain know only too well. The\nSpanish people are too busy trying to deal with the worse health crisis to hit\nEurope since the Black Death to worry about anything else. Not even worth\nmentioning!!!<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"