The Adjusted Normal, 51. Like Grandfather, Like Grandson.
The King Emeritus, Juan Carlos I, has decided to leave Spain for exile because of all the attention being given some bad past decisions of his. It seems he wants to stop being the center of attention so that his son, Felipe VI, can strengthen his image.
Well, accepting bribes from the Saudis, and trying to bribe an ex-lover would be reason enough to have the limelight on him, I suppose. Few people believe in Felipe's distancing from a poisoned inheritance, like his renunciation of his father's money. If it hasn't been declared, and taxes paid on it, it sure as hell isn't going to go to charity once Juan Carlos dies.
There is a tremendous sense of impunity surrounding this. A high court decided that the ex-king cannot be charged with any wrong-doing while he was king, only for any crime committed after he abdicated. But few judges would even bother to accept any charges brought against him. Most of the judges are too conservative and monarchic to even contemplate it. So, to get out of the spotlights placed on him, he's leaving, most likely to the Dominican Republic, where he can live in style and where he has friends.
He's not the first of his lineage to flee. His grandfather, Alfonso XIII, also fled abroad in 1931, and a Republic declared. In 1932, a charge was brought against him in the courts, as well as against a number of other aristocrats, all of them in exile, including the Duque de Alba. They were accused of illegally setting up a consortium of companies betting on greyhound races as a way of making money, the Club Deportivo Galguero Español, and the Liebre Mecánica. One was a racing society and the other exploited the races. The "sporting" society ended up raking in at least 17% of all bets. The King was called upon to report to the Spanish Embassy in Paris to answer questions in the case, but he ignored them all.
That king left with the equivalent fortune of over 48 million euros, the remnants of which were left to the ex-king's father, and to the ex-king and his sister's upon their father's death. Some of the fortune Alfonso had squirrelled away in Switzerland was made illegally, other was benefits from investments made while king in national companies, which he never paid any taxes on. He even produced porn films, and made money that way. Kind of like the money the Saudis paid the present ex-king that never saw the light of day by the tax man.
Another way in which grandfather and grandson resemble each other, is in all the affairs each had with different women. There is a legend that Alfonso had a bastard daughter with a woman from the Isorna parish of this township of Rianxo. Apparently, while visiting a friend at the Pazo do Faramello, on the road between Santiago de Compostela and Padrón, the king met a servant girl he fancied, and she got pregnant. When they went into exile, Alfonso and Victoria Eugenia, the queen, went in different directions.
Juan Carlos has also had numerous affairs with other women, the most notable of which was Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, a German who helped uncover the can of worms after he broke up with her. Again, Juan Carlos is leaving, but the ex-queen, Sofía, is staying.
In my view, his son Felipe, and his family, should go, too. This monarchy has done Spain more damage than good. There are many who extoll Juan Carlos' handling of the Transition, but was it really an exemplary handling? Everything was rigged so that the past would be forgotten and forgiven, even police tortureres who had plied their profession into democracy. One small moment of light does not illuminate centuries of decadence. Most of the kings of the Borbón family in Spain were dissolute. The Hapsburgs weren't much better, but the Borbóns were sometimes out and out thieves. It is time to turn the page to a new chapter and declare a republic. Why should we continue to have a king who is always going to be above the law and untouchable in his schemes?
Life continues.
Well, accepting bribes from the Saudis, and trying to bribe an ex-lover would be reason enough to have the limelight on him, I suppose. Few people believe in Felipe's distancing from a poisoned inheritance, like his renunciation of his father's money. If it hasn't been declared, and taxes paid on it, it sure as hell isn't going to go to charity once Juan Carlos dies.
There is a tremendous sense of impunity surrounding this. A high court decided that the ex-king cannot be charged with any wrong-doing while he was king, only for any crime committed after he abdicated. But few judges would even bother to accept any charges brought against him. Most of the judges are too conservative and monarchic to even contemplate it. So, to get out of the spotlights placed on him, he's leaving, most likely to the Dominican Republic, where he can live in style and where he has friends.
He's not the first of his lineage to flee. His grandfather, Alfonso XIII, also fled abroad in 1931, and a Republic declared. In 1932, a charge was brought against him in the courts, as well as against a number of other aristocrats, all of them in exile, including the Duque de Alba. They were accused of illegally setting up a consortium of companies betting on greyhound races as a way of making money, the Club Deportivo Galguero Español, and the Liebre Mecánica. One was a racing society and the other exploited the races. The "sporting" society ended up raking in at least 17% of all bets. The King was called upon to report to the Spanish Embassy in Paris to answer questions in the case, but he ignored them all.
That king left with the equivalent fortune of over 48 million euros, the remnants of which were left to the ex-king's father, and to the ex-king and his sister's upon their father's death. Some of the fortune Alfonso had squirrelled away in Switzerland was made illegally, other was benefits from investments made while king in national companies, which he never paid any taxes on. He even produced porn films, and made money that way. Kind of like the money the Saudis paid the present ex-king that never saw the light of day by the tax man.
Another way in which grandfather and grandson resemble each other, is in all the affairs each had with different women. There is a legend that Alfonso had a bastard daughter with a woman from the Isorna parish of this township of Rianxo. Apparently, while visiting a friend at the Pazo do Faramello, on the road between Santiago de Compostela and Padrón, the king met a servant girl he fancied, and she got pregnant. When they went into exile, Alfonso and Victoria Eugenia, the queen, went in different directions.
Juan Carlos has also had numerous affairs with other women, the most notable of which was Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, a German who helped uncover the can of worms after he broke up with her. Again, Juan Carlos is leaving, but the ex-queen, Sofía, is staying.
In my view, his son Felipe, and his family, should go, too. This monarchy has done Spain more damage than good. There are many who extoll Juan Carlos' handling of the Transition, but was it really an exemplary handling? Everything was rigged so that the past would be forgotten and forgiven, even police tortureres who had plied their profession into democracy. One small moment of light does not illuminate centuries of decadence. Most of the kings of the Borbón family in Spain were dissolute. The Hapsburgs weren't much better, but the Borbóns were sometimes out and out thieves. It is time to turn the page to a new chapter and declare a republic. Why should we continue to have a king who is always going to be above the law and untouchable in his schemes?
Life continues.
Vaia manda de mantidos !.
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