Wednesday dawned with an exclusive from Lecturas
magazine
on the cover of which Iñaki Urdangarin can be seen walking hand in hand with a woman who is not the Infanta Cristina, who is in Switzerland, where she resides. The photos, according to the magazine, were taken on January 11 in the Basque-French town of Bidart, where the Urdangarin family spends the summers. It does not seem that the husband of the infanta Cristina wants to hide since the image was taken in a public place frequented by his wife and children and the press. Although he has surprised many, this morning his son Pablo Urdangarin answered the questions of a Europa Press journalist, taking the iron out of the matter and completely normalizing the situation.
“I prefer not to say anything because it is a family issue. These are things that happen and we will talk about it among ourselves and that's it, ”said the 21-year-old. When asked if he had had the opportunity to speak with his father, very calmly, the second son of the Infanta Cristina has sentenced: “Yes, everything is fine, really. We are all calm and we are all going to love each other the same. Nothing else is needed." In addition, he added that although he had not spoken to his mother, that "I would call her" and that everyone is "happy and nothing is going to change."
According to the magazine
¡Hola!,
not only the children of Iñaki Urdangarin knew the details of this information, but also the infanta Cristina herself was aware of these facts that she would have communicated to her father, the king emeritus, by telephone. The same magazine assures that several sources close to the second daughter of Juan Carlos I say that "although she does not answer most of the calls" some very close friends have been able to verify that she is calm and that "she is only concerned about her children".
The relationship between Cristina de Borbón and Iñaki Urdangarin began in July 1996, during the celebration of the Atlanta Olympic Games, where he participated as a handball player for the Spanish team.
A year later they were married in the cathedral of Barcelona before 1,500 guests.
The couple had four children: three boys (Juan, Pablo and Miguel) and a girl, Irene.
For years they were the apparent example of an exemplary couple: she worked at the La Caixa Foundation, he had founded the Nóos Institute together with Diego Torres, a company dedicated to organizing sporting events and providing consultancy to other companies.
In 2011, as a result of the investigation of the
Palma Arena case
, another investigation was initiated at the Nóos institute. Two years later, in full investigation for influence peddling, tax fraud, embezzlement and prevarication, with the argument of a labor transfer of the infanta, but with the intention of protecting their children from the scandal, the family moved to live in Geneva . The Infanta Cristina, despite the fact that she was charged in 2014 in the Nóos case, always declared that she knew nothing about her husband's criminal activities and faced the alleged advice of the then King Juan Carlos I who intended to disassociate her from Urdangarin in order to protect to the royal family. Urdangarin was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017.
During this time, the then Dukes of Palma (the dukedom was withdrawn from them by King Felipe) always remained very close.
They overcame the investigation, the trials, pressure from the emeritus king, the sale of their house in Pedralbes, Urdangarin's deletion from the Royal House page, prison and the estrangement from his brother, which also meant, and until now, Cristina's disappearance from public and official events.