New and explosive statements by Corinna Larsen, popularly known as princess Corinna, the former lover of Spain's king emeritus Juan Carlos I, represent a qualitative leap in her allegations of systemic corruption against the former Spanish head of state and point, for the first time, directly to his son, Felipe VI, as a participant in the whole web of allegedly illicit money. Her words couldn’t be more devastating: “Felipe can’t say he has nothing to do with this [the money from commissions in Switzerland or directly opaque funds in tax havens] if he’s benefited from it all his life. So I think that's where the problem lies." Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein's declaration comes at a particularly delicate time for the Spanish monarchy, deeply affected not only by the corruption cases under investigation by the Swiss judiciary, but also by the institutional crisis that the crown is going through with the government of Pedro Sánchez and its partners in Podemos, the Catalan demand to leave the Spanish state and constitute an independent republic and thirdly, allegations that the King has been manoeuvring against the Spanish government in league with the judiciary and the extreme right.
To try to cover over the gaping crack that now separates the royal palace from the government, in an unheard of situation with few similar precedents, Felipe VI and Pedro Sánchez are to travel to Barcelona this Friday for the closing ceremony of the Barcelona New Economy Week, an initiative to reactivate the economy of Barcelona promoted by the city's Zona Franca Consortium, which is celebrating its very first edition this year. With this event and another that will take place this Tuesday in Madrid, where the two will coincide a the meeting of the Cervantes Institute's board, it is intended to put an end to the institutional crisis between the head of state and the Spanish government, and correct the executive's veto on the presence of the monarch in Barcelona for the new judges' graduation ceremony last month. Corinna's statements complicate this reencounter as the focus is again directly on the corruption of the Spanish monarchy, which Corinna Larsen has defined as "a family business that has operated for 40 years and has had immunity through the constitution".
With regard to Juan Carlos's fortune, she says it is incalculable and, without providing a specific figure, limits herself to taking as correct the net wealth valuation of the king emeritus made by The New York Times of about 2.3 billion dollars, an amount which, she comments, she won’t refute as it is a serious publication that bases its estimates on fairly thorough research. Regardless of the interest that Corinna Larsen may have in the information she is providing, it is clear that the case cannot be written off, as is usually done, by dismissing her as a "woman scorned." This, in any case, should not be the focus of the debate, but rather the harsh accusations she has been making and which affect the royal family very significantly. Her closeness for years to Juan Carlos I, which she has amply documented with images from her family album, positions her as someone with first-hand knowledge of secrets that are not personal, but rather, directly affect the institution at the head of the Spanish state.
The stench that wafts out from many of the behaviours of these years will not be containable no matter how much the so-called media of reference, starting with the print newspaper establishment, try to reduce it to a minimum. One of Corinna's responses about the role of journalists - and the concern of Juan Carlos I that they should be brought to book - leaves no room for doubt: "He always said, provide names and we'll take care of them." Worrying.