The British court granted immunity on Tuesday to the former king of Spain Juan Carlos, accused of harassment by his ex-lover, until his abdication in 2014.
Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was the lover of Juan Carlos, 84, between 2004 and 2009. She assures that after their breakup, starting in 2012, she was spied on and harassed for eight years by order of the former monarch, or during a period largely after the abdication. This 57-year-old Danish businesswoman, but also her children, were reportedly threatened, and her home was reportedly visited. She would have demanded that she give him gifts, such as works of art, jewelry and money in the amount of 65 million euros.
Complaint filed in 2020
She filed a harassment complaint in October 2020 in London, where she lives. She requests compensation for psychological damage and loss of income due to anxiety, as well as a restraining order. But the former king, who has lived in exile in the United Arab Emirates since 2020 and categorically denies the accusations, had initiated legal proceedings to have his immunity recognized.
British judges ruled on Tuesday that acts charged against the former monarch during the “pre-abdication” period were covered by immunity “in the courts” of the United Kingdom. But this decision does not put an end to the procedure because most of the events denounced by Corinna Larsen are after 2014.
controversial figure
Assumed as Head of State in 1975, after the death of the dictator Franco who had designated him as his successor, King Juan Carlos I was internationally acclaimed for decades and respected at the national level for having allowed the return of democracy to Spain.
His popularity plummeted after personal scandals and revelations about his lavish lifestyle in Spain beginning in 2012, including his relationship with Corinna Larsen.
This relationship became public when the monarch broke his hip while on holiday in Botswana with his mistress and had to fly home. The revelation, which came during a period of record unemployment in Spain, had sparked anger in his country. Juan Carlos abdicated in favor of his son Felipe VI, who distanced himself from him.
high profile podcast
The trial began when Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn testified about this relationship in a podcast, entitled “Corinna and the King”, produced by two London journalists and whose publication caused controversy in Spain.
Corinna Larsen tells how their relationship opened the doors to a “dangerous” world and tells how she was involved against her will in criminal investigations in Spain into the origin of Juan Carlos’s fortune. Investigations of corruption and embezzlement closed since March.
Source: BFM TV
