Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S disgraced former king Juan Carlos I has publicly denied press reports published this week claiming that he has a secret daughter.
The self-styled emeritus king, who is notorious for his alleged extra-marital affairs and financial dealings, made a statement to Spanish news agency EFE in which he ‘rejected and condemned as false’ the claims that he was romantically involved with now-deceased aristocrat Rosario Palacios and that their affair had produced a child.
The claims were made in a new book from journalists Jose Maria Olmo and David Fernandez, titled King Corp., Juan Carlos I’s never-told empire.
The allegations were also published last week by Spanish online daily El Confidencial, which claimed that the secret daughter in question could be Alejandra de Rojas, the daughter of Palacios.
‘I completely deny having had any kind of romantic relationship with Mrs Rosario Palacios (RIP) and consequently having had a daughter with her,’ the statement from Juan Carlos read.
Sources from the Royal Household told EFE last week that they had any knowledge of Juan Carlos having a secret daughter.
The allegations arrived in the wake of Juan Carlos’s second visit to Spain since he went into self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi in August of 2020, after a number of allegations of financial impropriety were made against him.
Spain’s King Felipe VI has made efforts to distance the royal family from Juan Carlos, a task that has been made more complicated by a series of revelations about his private life in media over the last few years, including television documentaries and podcasts.
On Sunday, El Confidencial revealed that Juan Carlos, who abdicated the throne in 2014, gave his former lover, businesswoman Corinna Larsen, two emeralds valued at €250,000 in a bid to win her back after they had ended their relationship. According to the newspaper, the jewels were seriously damaged during a restoration process in Belgium and lost.
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