Spain’s former king, Juan Carlos, will return to the country on Thursday for his first visit since leaving nearly two years ago under a cloud following his abdication.
The royal household said Juan Carlos would visit the north-western town of Sanxenxo, where a yachting event is scheduled to take place. On Monday the 84-year-old will travel to Madrid, where he is expected to meet his son, King Felipe VI, and other members of the royal family.
The visit, the household said, reflects the former king's desire to “travel frequently to Spain to visit family and friends”.
Juan Carlos left Spain in August 2020 as Spanish and Swiss prosecutors mounted investigations into his alleged financial dealings amid a debate over whether Spain should have a monarchy.
The Spanish prosecutors did not find evidence to take the former monarch to court because Juan Carlos was protected by immunity as Spain’s king, and other possible fraud fell outside the statute of limitations. Swiss prosecutors also dropped their investigation.
The investigations allowed the recovery of €5.1 million ($5.4 million) in fines and taxes for income that Juan Carlos had failed to declare to Spain’s tax authorities, the prosecutors said in their conclusions.
In March this year, he wrote a letter to Felipe expressing his desire to visit family and friends in Spain after Supreme Court prosecutors closed investigations into his financial dealings.
King Juan Carlos helped steer Spain back to democracy after the death of dictator Gen Francisco Franco in 1975, making him Spain’s most respected public figure. But scandals of one type or another involving the family began to mount in the later years of his reign. He abdicated in 2014, ending a 39-year term as monarch.
Since becoming king, Felipe has tried to distance himself from his father, removing the former monarch from the royal house’s payroll to help rebuild the Spanish crown’s image.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
Planes grounded by coronavirus
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Ai Seoul: Suspended all flights to China
Finnair: Suspending flights to Nanjing and Beijing Daxing until the end of March
Indonesia's Lion Air: Suspending all flights to China from February
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