The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Juan Carlos: Former king back in Spain after two years

2022-05-19T18:16:06.365Z


He's back: Former King Juan Carlos is taking a break from exile and is visiting his native Spain for a few days. A meeting with his son is way behind in the schedule.


Enlarge image

Return to Spain: Juan Carlos on his arrival in Vigo

Photo: Lalo R. Villar/AP

Spain's former king Juan Carlos is back in his homeland after a two-year absence.

The 84-year-old, who lives in exile in Abu Dhabi, landed in a private jet at Vigo-Peinador Airport in north-west Spain on Thursday evening.

This is reported, among others, by the newspaper »El País« and the television station RTVE.

Video footage shows Juan Carlos exiting the plane.

Then, according to RTVE, he is said to have been welcomed by his eldest daughter Elena.

The royal family, which is careful to keep its distance from the ex-monarch, only officially confirmed the trip on Wednesday evening.

Next Monday - at the end of the short visit - a meeting between Juan Carlos and his son, the current King Felipe VI, is planned in Madrid.

The passionate sailor will stay in Sanxenxo – about 45 minutes by car from Vigo – over the weekend.

There is a regatta there.

In the port city of Galicia, Juan Carlos lives in the house of a wealthy entrepreneur friend, Pedro Campos.

Campos had previously said Juan Carlos might take part in the regatta.

"It also depends on the weather whether Juan Carlos will take part in the regatta," Campos said.

With too much wind and waves it would be unlikely.

In any case, the ex-monarch would then be on an escort ship.

life in exile

The retired king left his homeland on August 4, 2020, initially with an unknown destination.

He later showed up in Abu Dhabi.

At the beginning of March 2022, after the end of all criminal investigations into financial irregularities, he announced that he wanted to stay in exile for the time being, but that he would soon be making sporadic visits to his homeland.

The Spanish public prosecutor had launched three investigations into Juan Carlos since 2020.

Among other things, it was about dubious gifts of money in the millions from Saudi Arabia and allegations of money laundering.

At the center of the suspicions was a sum of 100 million dollars (65 million euros) that the then Saudi Arabian King Abdullah had deposited in 2008 into a Swiss bank account that Juan Carlos also had access to.

Investigators found no direct or indirect link between the payment and the award of a contract to a Spanish consortium to build a high-speed rail link between Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, prosecutors later said.

ptz/dpa

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2022-05-19

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-17T05:13:05.255Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.