The ex-king has been stranded in Abu Dhabi after a series of scandals. Now newly released files support his claim to have saved Spanish democracy
When Spain’s King Juan Carlos fell over and broke his hip while on an elephant hunt with a girlfriend in Botswana in 2012, he probably thought that Spaniards would accept this as a minor gaffe after a lifetime of public service. The monarch had, after all, weathered numerous scandals, including a string of extramarital affairs and investigations into his family’s financial affairs, during the previous 37 years of his reign. Money was hardly a problem in his life.
This time, however, Spaniards had had enough. It was the height of the eurozone crisis and there was outrage that Juan Carlos was on what was reported to be a free hunting trip while people endured the poverty, mass unemployment and terror of an economy in freefall. Within two years, the king had abdicated and was passing the crown to his son, Felipe VI.
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