Spain’s King Felipe is distancing himself from his father

BACK IN MARCH, as Spain was distracted by pandemic and lockdown, the royal household quietly announced that King Felipe had renounced his inheritance and cancelled the salary of €194,232 ($225,173) he was paying his father, Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014. The move was prompted by revelations that Felipe was a beneficiary of two foundations linked to Juan Carlos, both registered in tax havens. The Swiss bank account of one is alleged to have received a $100m payment from Saudi Arabia, of which €65m was transferred in 2012 to Corinna Larsen, Juan Carlos’s Danish ex-lover. (She claims this was “not to hide the money” but because he “hoped to win me back”.) Prosecutors in Switzerland and Spain are investigating. The Spanish press continues to publish leaked letters from Ms Larsen’s lawyers suggesting that she tried (and failed) to get Felipe involved.