The Royal Palace made no comment, but sources quoted in local media said the
monarchy would respect the decision.
The reproach to the King, who is widely credited with steering his country
from dictatorship to democracy, is unprecedented, but follows a series of
dents to the image of the Spanish royal family.
Last year a state-sponsored poll revealed that the monarchy’s approval rating
had fallen below 50 per cent. Spanish media coverage of the House of Bourbon
is generally deferential, and it was only in December that details of the
royal family’s spending were revealed for the first time.
In February Inaki Urdangarin, the King’s son-in-law, appeared in court to
answer questions in a criminal inquiry into alleged fraud and embezzlement.
A former Olympic handball player who is married to Juan Carlos’s youngest
daughter Infanta Cristina, Inaki Urdangarin was sidelined from official
events at the end of last year, when formal proceedings against him were
first begun. He has denied any wrongdoing and says he will clarify the truth
and defend his honour.
Last week the royal family announced it had trimmed €100,000 from its annual
budget of €8.3 million after angry street protests erupted across Spain in
response to the €65 billion austerity programme planned by the government.
Juan Carlos is best remembered in Spain for having donned his
Commander-in-Chief’s uniform and gone live on television in 1981 to condemn
an attempted coup by right-wing army officers. He was crowned King days
after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and oversaw Spain’s
swift transition to a modern European democracy from the dictatorship he had
inherited.
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