Infanta Cristina and Iñaki Urdangarin sign the divorce

Infanta Cristina, 58, and Iñaki Urdangarin, 56, have signed the divorce, thus definitively ending their relationship after 26 years of marriage, as announced this Wednesday, January 24, by the magazine ¡Hola

!

The former dukes of Palma, who were married in Barcelona on October 4, 1997, signed the divorce by mutual agreement in the Catalan capital before a notary last December, although the exact date of the signing of the dissolution of the marriage has not been revealed. Your marriage.

According to the publication, Cristina de Borbón and Urdangarin, who will not receive compensation or pension, reached an economic agreement to cover the common expenses of their four children.

The Bidart property, in France, will continue to belong to Mrs. Cristina (sole owner), but when her children go to this French town to be with her father, Iñaki will also be able to use it.

It was on January 24, 2022 when the infanta and the former athlete made public their decision, “by mutual agreement, to interrupt their marital relationship,” as they announced in a statement sent then to the Efe agency.

In the note they also noted that her commitment to her four children “remains intact.”

They are both parents of Juan Valentín (24 years old), Pablo Nicolás (23), Miguel (21) and Irene (18).

“Given that it is a private decision, we ask for the utmost respect from everyone around us,” they ended the statement announcing the end of their marriage.

More information

Pablo Urdangarin grants his first interview where he talks about his girlfriend and his admiration for his father

The decision was made public a week after the new relationship between the former Duke of Palma became known.

It was the magazine

Lecturas

that published exclusively on its cover some images of Urdangarin walking hand in hand with a woman who was not Infanta Cristina.

The woman was Ainhoa ​​Armentia, the lawyer whom he met at the Vitoria law firm where they both worked and with whom he has had a relationship since then.

“These things happen and we are going to manage it in the best way,” Iñaki Urdangarin confirmed then to the magazine

¡Hola!

.

“It is a difficulty that I will manage with my family, with the utmost tranquility and together, as we have always done.

I have nothing more to say,” he concluded.

The last time the couple was photographed was precisely at the beginning of January 2022, when the couple spent a few days skiing in Baqueira Beret in the company of their children.

Iñaki Urdangarin and Cristina de Borbón met at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. This television capture shows the moment in which the infanta shakes the hand of the Spanish handball team player during the competition.

It is their first image together.

Just a few months after meeting, Cristina de Borbón and Iñaki Urdangarin announced their engagement.

In the image, the couple during the walk they took through the gardens of the Zarzuela Palace on the day of the marriage proposal, May 3, 1997.AP

Cristina and her future husband pose smiling for a photograph during the gala dinner prior to their wedding, held at the Albéniz palace in Barcelona on October 3, 1997.EFE

One of the moments of the wedding between the Dukes of Palma, a title that the then King Juan Carlos I gave to his daughter for her marriage.

Here, Iñaki kisses Cristina on the cheek, in the presence of King Juan Carlos, on October 3, 1997 in Barcelona.AP

Iñaki Urdangarin quickly became another member of the royal family, with whom he seemed to maintain a cordial relationship.

In the image, the Duke and Duchess of Palma with the Kings of Spain and the then Prince Felipe in a family photo on the first Christmas Eve of the Duke and Duchess of Palma as a married couple, on December 24, 1997. Miguel Gener

Pope John Paul II with the Duke and Duchess of Palma, Infanta Cristina and her husband Iñaki Urdangarin, whom he received in a private audience at the Pontifical Library of the Vatican, in June 1998.EFE

The Duke and Duchess of Palma had their first child two and a half years after getting married.

In the image, Urdangarin toasts with champagne for the birth of the little one with the press gathered at the Teknon clinic in Barcelona on September 29, 1999. The first of his four children was called Juan Valentín de Todos los Santos.Marcel.li Saenz

The Christmas greeting from the Kings of Spain in 1999 was this family photo with their children, grandchildren and sons-in-law.

The infantas pose with their first-born children, Cristina with Juan Valentín (born just three months earlier) and Elena with Felipe Juan Froilán (then a year and a half old).Casa Real (EFE)

Iñaki Urdangarin's sports career continued to develop during the first years of his marriage.

Here he is seen greeting the royal family at the Sydney Olympic Games, held in September 2000. The then captain of the Spanish handball team celebrates his team's 26-22 victory against Yugoslavia. Kevin Lamarque (Reuters)

In May 2004, the Duke and Duchess of Palma attended the wedding of Prince Frederick of Denmark and Mary Donaldson.

It was one of Prince Felipe's first public acts with his then fiancee, Letizia Ortiz, and the two couples showed their good harmony. Gorka Lejarcegi

The dukes of Palma had four children in less than six years.

Juan Valentín, born in September 1999, was joined by Pablo Nicolás (December 2000), Miguel (April 2002) and the youngest, Irene (June 2005).

In this image from late 2005, the six of them congratulate Christmas together.

For years, the dukes of Palma demonstrated in public their good connection.

In the image, Iñaki Urdangarin kisses his wife, Infanta Cristina, on the neck upon arrival at the wedding banquet of the crown princess of Sweden, Victoria, and her new husband, Daniel Westling, at the royal palace in Stockholm, in June 2010.AFP

In 2011, the Duke of Palma began to be investigated for the so-called Nóos case.

In February 2012, in the image, he went to testify for two days in the Palma courts.

"I appear today to prove my innocence, my honor and my professional activity," said Urdangarin in his first words before the judge.

He ended up being sentenced to five years and 10 months for prevarication, fraud against the Administration, influence peddling and crimes against the Public Treasury.

He was in prison for two years and eight months;

The rest of the sentence continues to be served in semi-freedom. Uly Martín

Infanta Cristina and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, upon their arrival at the oral hearing of the Nóos case, in Palma de Mallorca, in February 2016. Then the daughter of King Juan Carlos I became the first member of the Spanish royal family who sat on a bench.

She was being tried for cooperating in two crimes against the Public Treasury supposedly committed by her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin.

She was acquitted but had to pay a fine.Tolo Ramón

During the years that Urdangarin spent in the Brieva prison, Ávila, and now during her regime of semi-freedom, Infanta Cristina has always remained with her husband, and has been seen with him and her children during all her outings. jail.

Here, the couple in December 2019, during the former duke's first leave.

The last time they were seen together was skiing in Baqueira Beret at the beginning of 2022.David Aguilar (Efe)

On January 19, 2022, Iñaki Urdangarin was photographed walking hand in hand along Bidart beach with a woman who was not Infanta Cristina.

His family came forward explaining that "these are things that happen," which further confirmed the marital crisis.

Here, Urdangarin photographed in Vitoria, where he lives and works, on Thursday, January 20.

On Monday, January 24, the couple announced that they had decided to "interrupt" their "marital relationship."

"The commitment to our children remains intact," they stated in their brief statement.Europa Press

The Voluntary Jurisdiction Law, which came into force in July 2015, allows those who wish to undo their marriage to go to the notary and pay for it, just as the Infanta and Urdangarin would have done.

Judges can only be replaced when the separation is by mutual agreement and there are no dependent children or people with disabilities in the process.

Which is precisely what happens in this case, since Irene Urdangarin y Borbón, the youngest of the children of the former dukes of Palmahijos, came of age on June 5.

Hello!

It has also confirmed that the infanta and her now ex-husband signed the deed without the presence of their children.

The publication assures that the four had to give consent regarding the measures taken that affect their lives, but the law does not require personal presence, so it is deduced that they were represented by a representative.

Infanta Cristina and Iñaki Urdangarin on their wedding day, October 4, 1997 in Barcelona.Carsten Rehder (ZUMAPRESS.com / Cordon Press / Cordon Press)

The middle daughter of King Emeritus Juan Carlos and Uradangarin met during the 96 Atlanta Olympic Games, when he was one of the players on the Spanish handball team that won bronze and they saw each other celebrating the gold medal won by the water polo team;

Jesús Rollán, goalkeeper of the champions, introduced them.

In October of that year they began their relationship, eight months later they announced their engagement and on October 4, 1997 they were married in a crowded wedding held in the Barcelona cathedral and in the Pedralbes palace in the Catalan capital.

The infanta currently resides in Geneva (Switzerland), where she has maintained her residence since 2013, although she frequently travels to Spain for work reasons - she is director of the International Area of ​​the La Caixa Foundation - or to meet with her family, as in the recent celebration. of his father's birthday or the celebration of Infanta Elena's 60th birthday.

Urdangarin, for her part, obtained conditional freedom on March 2, 2022, which has allowed her to settle permanently in Vitoria, where she continues her new courtship with Ainhoa ​​Armentia.

Her sentence of 5 years and 10 months due to her involvement in the

Nóos case

―he was convicted of the crimes of embezzlement, prevarication, fraud against the Administration, two tax crimes and influence peddling― will end in April of this year.

The infanta, acquitted of the case, always supported and accompanied her then husband during the trials for this corruption plot, then ignoring advice to get a divorce.

The judge charged Iñaki Urdangarin on December 29, 2011, but two weeks earlier the duke was already removed from the official life of the Royal Family as a result of the investigation to which he was being subjected due to his business dealings.

La Zarzuela called his behavior “exemplary.”