When a boulevard in Palma de Mallorca was renamed to honour Princess Cristina de Borbón and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín, in 1998, it seemed like a good fit. It was one of the city's most regal thoroughfares, lined with trees and dotted with fountains and Roman statues, and they were the feted new couple of the Spanish crown. The princess's father, King Juan Carlos, had recently given the pair the titles the Duke and Duchess of Palma. Fifteen years later, the city changed its mind. Urdangarín was under investigation for embezzlement and questions were being asked about how much his wife knew. "He has conducted himself poorly and has shown a lack of consideration towards the title and the name of our city," said a spokesperson in explanation for why the city was reverting back to the old name of the boulevard. On Saturday, just a few streets away from the renamed La Rambla, Spain's royal family will live out another chapter in their steady fall from grace. At 10am Princess Cristina de Borbón has been summoned to the city's imposing stone courthouse to answer allegations of money laundering and tax evasion.

1. Spanish royal family braces for
Princess Cristina's court appearance
Allegations of money laundering and tax evasion
against king's daughter are latest episode in family's
fall from grace
When a boulevard in Palma de Mallorca was renamed to
honour Princess Cristina de Borbón and her husband,

2. Iñaki Urdangarín, in 1998, it seemed like a good fit. It
was one of the city's most regal thoroughfares, lined with
trees and dotted with fountains and Roman statues, and
they were the feted new couple of the Spanish crown.
The princess's father, King Juan Carlos, had recently
given the pair the titles the Duke and Duchess of Palma.
Fifteen years later, the city changed its mind.
Urdangarín was under investigation for embezzlement
and questions were being asked about how much his
wife knew. "He has conducted himself poorly and has
shown a lack of consideration towards the title and the
name of our city," said a spokesperson in explanation for
why the city was reverting back to the old name of the
boulevard.
On Saturday, just a few streets away from the renamed
La Rambla, Spain's royal family will live out another
chapter in their steady fall from grace. At 10am Princess
Cristina de Borbón has been summoned to the city's
imposing stone courthouse to answer allegations of
money laundering and tax evasion.
The 48-year-old princess will be the first royal-born
member of Spain's ruling Bourbons to appear in court
since the monarchy was restored in 1975. She will be
questioned by prosecutors, the investigating judge José
Castro and dozens of lawyers over her role in one of
Spain's longest-running corruption scandals. Both
Cristina and her husband have denied any wrongdoing.
At its best, Cristina's appearance in court on Saturday
could be cathartic for Spain's ailing monarchy, clearing

3. her of wrongdoing and showing the world that justice
plays out equally for every Spanish citizen, royal or not.
But at its worst, this weekend's court appearance could
result in criminal charges against the princess, and up to
six years of jail time and steep fines.
The gamble is not only Cristina's. What happens in this
courtroom could also spell the end for Spain's King Juan
Carlos. Once one of Europe's most beloved monarchs,
the 76-year-old has seen his popularity plummet in
recent years, leaving him fending off calls to abdicate
and give the throne to his son, Crown Prince Felipe.
Hundreds of hours have gone into the logistics of this
event. Letters and texts have flown between the court,
police and the local government, with every new
development tracked voraciously by Spanish media.
For security reasons, the princess will have the option to
be chauffeured to the door of the entrance of the
courtroom rather than walking down the 40-metre
concrete ramp as most do. The front of the building will
be cordoned off and protesters corralled away from the
building. Saturday's questioning will take place behind
closed doors and anyone who enters the courtroom will
have their mobile phones, laptops and tablets
confiscated. In a bid to protect the princess from images
that could hurt her later on, the court will only record
audio of the testimony, to be kept in a locked safe by the
investigating judge.

4. The far-right anti-corruption group Manos Limpias has
appealed against each of these decisions. "We're trying
to have her treated like any other citizen of Spain," said
Miguel Bernad. "But we're seeing that the power of the
royal house is working to have her treated differently."
Examples they cite include Spain's anti-corruption
prosecutor, who accused the investigating judge of
"conspiracy theories" against the princess in a written
statement and added that the magistrate had not
accepted reports by Spain's tax agency that cleared the
princess of wrongdoing. The Spanish prime minister,
Mariano Rajoy, also recently said in a TV interview that
he was "convinced of the innocence of the princess" and
added that he was certain "things would go well for her".
'These sums were used strictly for
personal spending'
The royal family has also been doing its best to sever ties
with Urdangarín. The king banned him from official
events shortly before he was named as a formal suspect
in 2011. His official biography and most references to
him were scrubbed from the royal family's website.
Even so, Cristina's name continued to come up in the
investigation. Documents have surfaced that
purportedly show the princess signed herself as owner
and tenant of the couple's €6m mansion in Barcelona,
raising questions about how the couple had paid for the
house and the additional €3m worth of renovations they
put into it.

5. The investigating judge's first attempt to get answers of
out of Cristina failed to stick. Castro summoned the
princess in April, but his demand was thrown out by a
higher court in May, who said there was not enough
evidence to warrant her testimony. Last month she was
summoned again, this time for alleged tax fraud. Castro
backed his request with a 227-page order, in which he
noted it would be "difficult for Urdangarín to defraud
Inland Revenue without his wife's knowledge and
acquiescence". Cristina, he said, "chose to look the other
way".
He cited myriad items bought by the princess – ranging
from lavish trips and dinners to Harry Potter books –
and paid for by a shell company the judge said was used

6. to funnel money from her husband's non-profit
institution.
"These sums were used strictly for personal spending …
And they should have been declared in income
statements … But it is evident that neither Iñaki
Urdangarín nor Mrs Cristina de Borbón ever did so,
which would suggest they repeatedly defrauded the tax
authority," wrote Castro.
The summoning incensed the princess's lawyers, who
vowed to appeal. Days later they backed down and said
Cristina would "present herself voluntarily" to the court
appearance she had been ordered to attend.
So far, Cristina's strategy has been one of "playing both
cards at the same time", said the political commentator
José Ignacio Torreblanca. She has tried to show that
while she may not have known about her husband's
activities, she remains loyal to him. "The princess has to
decide between the house and the husband, and whether
she wants to follow him to the end," he said.
Media leaks aside, the closed courtroom means the
public will not get a sense of Cristina's testimony until
the investigating judge publishes his summary further
down the road, said Torreblanca. Instead, he believed,
the act of showing up in court will speak volumes, giving
some rest to the notion that the royal family is beyond
the reach of Spain's justice system. "Once she testifies,
no matter what she says it will be good for the image of
the crown."

7. It might be a welcome change. A constant barrage of
leaks to the media during the three-year-long
investigation has so far only piled scandal on to the royal
family, whether it was emails that divulged attempts by
the king's associates to find employment for
Urdangarín, or the crude emails sent by Urdangarín to
his wife and friends, revealing a sense of humour that
revelled in mocking women's intelligence and obscene
jokes about his sister-in-law Letizia, who is married to
the next in line to the throne, Crown Prince Felipe.
During the investigation, Cristina and her husband have
shunned public appearances. Urdangarín remains in
Spain, while his wife and their four children moved last
year to Geneva where she works for the charitable
foundation of a Spanish bank.

8. The courtroom in Palma de Mallorca where Princess
Cristina is due to testify. Photograph: Enrique
Calvo/Reuters
Their absence has not eased the pressure on the royal
family. A recent poll by El Mundo found 43% of
Spaniards would like to do away with the monarchy.
Nearly two-thirds said King Juan Carlos, frail and weak
after a series of operations, should abdicate. It is a
stunning reversal of fortunes for the man once
considered one of the world's most popular monarchs.
Taking the throne just two days after the death of Franco
in 1975, he won the respect of Spaniards by steering the
country from dictatorship to democracy, foiling a coup
attempt along the way in 1981.
But as Spain fell into financial crisis, the king's standing
went into freefall. A low point came when just weeks
after telling a reporter that he was so distraught about
the growing ranks of the unemployed that he was having
trouble sleeping, it was revealed that he had taken a
luxurious trip to Botswana to hunt elephants.
Many began to see the king as part of Spain's problems,
linking him to the economic and political powers who
had driven the country into the crisis. This view of the
monarchy is particularly prominent among young
Spaniards, said the author of several books on the royal
family, José Apezarena. "The history of the monarchy is
unknown to them. They only have the few photos that
come on television and the reports."

9. The consequences of this perception could be grave,
given the royal family's tenuous grip on power. No
reigning Spanish king has managed to pass on the crown
to his offspring since 1885.
As Spain's royals find themselves under increased
scrutiny, attempts are being made to show they are up
to the challenge. In the past few months, they have
launched a website explaining the Spanish crown to
youngsters, announced pay cuts and gone public with
each of their salaries. The royal family now wants to be
a "glass house" when it comes to accounting for the
€7.78m they will take from the public purse this year,
said a spokesperson.
It is all part their new motto, say sources close to the
royal family. Deep in the throes of their ongoing crisis,
they are taking a line from the Spanish Nobel-prize-
winning author Camilo José Cela to heart: "He who
resists wins."
The case
Iñaki Urdangarín, a former Olympic-medal-winning
handball player, is under formal investigation for
alleged fraud, tax evasion, falsifying documents and
siphoning off €5.8m in public funds through his
charitable foundation, the Nóos Institute. Under the
banner of organising sports and tourism conferences
and providing consultancy advice, it is alleged
Urdangarín and his former business partner Diego
Torres used their connections to win public contracts,

10. overcharged for services and hid the money in privately
owned companies and offshore tax havens.
The money, allege investigators, was laundered through
the Nóos Institute and Aizoon, where Cristina was a
board member and co-owner, respectively. Investigators
suspect the princess was aware of at least some of her
husband's alleged crimes.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/07/spanish-royal-family-princess-cristina-
court