PRINCESS CRISTINA OF SPAIN TO APPEAR IN COURT

Princess Cristina Of Spain To Appear In Court
Spain's Princess Cristina has been ordered to appear in court in a corruption case involving her husband the Duke of Palma.
A court has named Spain's Princess Cristina as a suspect in a corruption case involving her husband, the Duke of Palma.

The court in Palma, on the island of Mallorca, said that the 47-year-old daughter of King Juan Carlos, is to be called for questioning on April 27.

The case centres on claims that her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, and his former business partner, Diego Torres, funnelled around 5 million euros (£4.25m) of public funds to companies they controlled.

They are accused of syphoning off money paid by regional governments to stage sports and tourism events to the non-profit Noos Institute, which the Duke was chairman of from 2004 to 2006.

The Duke, who has not been charged with any crime and maintains his innocence, attempted to distance his wife and the rest of the royals from his business dealings when he was questioned in court in February.

But his former business partner then provided the judge with emails that were leaked appearing to show that the Duke regularly consulted his wife, a member of the board of the Noos Institute, about the organisation's affairs.

Princess Cristina, the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, is seventh in line to the throne.

The princess, who was a member of the Spanish Olympic sailing team at the Seoul games in 1988, married her husband, a former handball player, in 1997 and together the couple have four children.

The couple moved to Washington in 2009 when the Duke took up the role as executive director of the US subsidiary of Spanish telecommunications firm Telefonica.

They were living there when the corruption allegations emerged but returned to Barcelona in August last year.

The summons by Judge Jose Castro will be seen as extremely damaging to the royal family, whose popularity is waning, according to recent polls.

The 75-year-old king is credited with steering Spain to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 but his standing has been hit by the corruption case and over a luxury elephant-hunting safari he took in Africa last year at a time of record unemployment in Spain.

An opinion poll published last month showed almost 57% of Spaniards felt the king should abdicate in favour of his 45-year-old son Prince Felipe.

He is currently recovering from surgery to his lower spine - his seventh operation in three years.

A spokesman for the palace said: "The royal household does not comment in any way on judicial decisions."