King Felipe VI of Spain has removed the title of “Duchess of Palma de Mallorca” from his sister, Princess Cristina, who faces criminal charges of tax evasion.
It’s the second big shakeup in the Spanish Royal monarchy in the past two years. On June 19, 2014, King Juan Carlos I abdicated in favor of his son, Felipe VI. Although no longer the acting king, Juan Carlos was allowed to a retain the courtesy title, His Majesty King Juan Carlos.
Juan Carlos married Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark on May 14, 1962 (she became Queen Sofia once married). The pair have three children, Felipe, Elena and Cristina. Felipe became King of Spain following Juan Carlos’ abdication. In terms of succession, the crown would next pass to King Felipe’s daughter, Princess Leonor and then his daughter, Infanta Sofia. King Felipe’s sister, Elena, would be third in line, and her children, Felipe and Victoria would follow in the line of succession. King Felipe’s younger sister, Cristina, is sixth.
Cristina, who has her Master’s degree from New York University, married Olympic handball player Iñaki Urdangarín in 1997. At the time of her marriage, her father, the acting King of Spain at the time, created a title for her, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca. By custom, her husband was to be called Duke of Palma de Mallorca.
In 2012, Urdangarin and his former business partner, Diego Torres, came under investigation on charges of fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement involving nearly 6 million euros ($8 million US) in public money related to the operation of a charitable organization, the Noos Institute. The following year, Cristina was also named in the investigation and in June of 2014, she was formally charged.
At a court appearance in 2014, Cristina denied knowing anything about her husband’s business dealings. A judge found that hard to believe pointing out that Cristina was a Noos board member. She also owned, together with her husband, a company called Aizoon, which was allegedly used to launder money in the scheme.
Despite her protestations, the case is moving forward. Although money laundering charges against her have been dropped, Cristina has been charged with two counts of accessory to tax fraud. Cristina is expected to stand trial in 2015. She faces jail time if found guilty. No trial date has been set.
Before this scandal, no royal-born member of Spain’s ruling family had ever been criminally charged in Spain.
Cristina continues to live in Switzerland where she has maintained a residence since 2013 (Cristina’s job is in Geneva at Caixabank). She sought court permission in early 2015 to sell her Barcelona mansion, worth just under €7m ($7.88m US) in order to pay a legal bond. Half of the house had previously been seized in 2013 to settle her husband’s €13.6m ($15.31m US) legal bond.
As part of the effort to control the fallout from the ongoing scandal, King Felipe met with his sister and advised her that he would be stripping her of her title. The decree, which was signed this week reads (downloads as a pdf):
De conformidad con lo dispuesto en el artículo 6 del Real Decreto 1368/1987, de 6 de noviembre, sobre régimen de títulos, tratamientos y honores de la Familia Real y de los Regentes, he resuelto revocar la atribución a Su Alteza Real la Infanta Doña Cristina de la facultad de usar el título de Duquesa de Palma de Mallorca, que le fue conferida mediante Real Decreto 1502/1997, de 26 de septiembre.
That roughly translates into English as:
In accordance with Article 6 of Royal Decree 1368/1987, of November 6, governing titles, treatments and honors of the Royal Family and the Regents, I have resolved to revoke the attribution to Her Royal Highness Princess Cristina of the right to use the title of Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, which was granted to her by Royal Decree 1502/1997, of 26 September.
Cristina will now be known as Her Royal Highness the Infanta (Princess) Doña Cristina.
According to reports, Cristina was “in complete agreement” with the decision.
Spain has been making news lately with what appears to be a new, aggressive approach on tax evasion among the country’s elite. Last week, Spanish tax authorities confirmed that they will take FC Barca’s Lionel Messi to trial on tax evasion charges. Last month, Messi’s club, FC Barca, learned that the Spanish National Court accepted the state prosecutor’s request to move forward with a trial against the club, club president Josep Bartomeu, and former club president Alexandre “Sandro” Rosell connected to the signing of the Brazil forward Neymar da Silva Júnior (known simply as Neymar); the total amount of tax at issue is at least €13m ($15 million US) though reports have suggested that the amounts may be more.
