Fiona Govan
THE disgraced brother-in-law of Spain’s king is again making headlines but this time not over his dodgy financial dealings.
Iñaki Urdangarin, who was jailed for massive financial fraud and embezzlement, has appeared on the cover of a gossip magazine snapped while walking hand-in.hand with a woman who is not his wife.
The images published in the salacious Lecturas magazine appeared to show the former handball champion and husband of Princess Cristina on a romantic walk along a beach in the Basque Country.
The woman has not been identified.
In an accompanying piece written by royal biographer Pilar Eyre, it says: “Such a gesture of close intimacy will undoubtedly cause an impace, but for one person it is very likely that it will also be a source of disappointment and immense sadness: his wife, Cristina de Borbón”.
The Infanta, who is the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, has stood by her man through a scandal that sent shockwaves through the royal family.
Urdangarin was found guilty in February 2017 of using royal connections to win public contracts to put on events through his non-profit organization, the Noos Foundation. He then overcharged for the events and hid millions of euros in proceeds abroad.
Princess Cristina, was acquitted of being an accessory to tax fraud after a year-long trial of 18 defendants in the probe of the charity run by her husband.
She was the first member of the Spanish royal family ever to stand in a dock.
The scandal added to a growing public disaffection towards the Spanish royal family which began when it emerged then-King Juan Carlos was off hunting elephants in Botswana with his mistress while Spain suffered a deep economic crisis.
Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014 and King Felipe VI has made great efforts to distance himself from the royal rogues. Urdangarin was stripped of his title of the Duke of Palma along with his wife who gave up the title of Duchess and was removed from royal duties.
The couple, who married in 1997, have lived separate lives for some time. Urdangarin has been living at his mother’s house in Vitoria in the Basque Country since his release from prison and is not allowed to travel abroad. Meanwhile Cristina, remains in Switzerland with the youngest of the couple’s four children.
The family moved there in 2013 when the Princess took up a job with La Caixa.
The couple were last pictured together at a stadium in Barcelona where their son Pablo was playing in a handball match.
READ ALSO:
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- Princess Cristina fined while husband Inaki Urdangarin sentenced to six years in Noos case
