Back in 2020, Spain‘s former king was taken to London‘s High Court after his ex-lover accused him of spying on and harassing her.
Juan Carlos, who turns 87 today, denied wrongdoing after Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn claimed he had caused her ‘great mental pain’.
She had been the ex-monarch’s mistress from 2004 to 2009 and wanted £126million in damages after an alleged ‘campaign of harassment’ by Juan Carlos for access to £56million that he had transferred into her bank account in 2012. .
In the end, the case was closed in 2023.
The Danish businesswoman was ‘deeply disappointed’ while the former king welcomed the decision.
The judge determined the court ‘lacks jurisdiction to try this claim’ because it was brought against the defendant outside of his country of domicile.
Justice Rowena Collins Rice added that Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn ‘has not sufficiently established that the ‘harmful event’ of which she complains – harassment by the defendant – happened in England’.
Though his latest drama ended, Juan Carlos has found himself caught up in plenty of controversies in the past.
Former King Juan Carlos of Spain, who turns 87 today, pictured in Madrid last September
The former monarch with his wife, Queen Sofia of Spain, waving from the balcony of the Oriental Palace in Madrid in 2004
Juan Carlos’s ex-lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein pictured at a fashion event in 2023
Born on January 5, 1938, to Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona and Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Juan Carlos began his life in Rome.
His family had been exiled to Italy during the Spanish Civil War.
He was educated at a school in Madrid before going to military academy, according to Hello!.
Juan Carlos then studied Political and International Law, Economics and Public Spending at Complutense University of Madrid.
Growing up, Juan Carlos shared his childhood with three siblings – Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria and Infante Alfonso.
His first involvement with a controversy was when he was just 18 years old after the accidental killing of his 14-year-old brother.
The shocking incident is said to have happened when Juan Carlos, home for Easter from his military school, was cleaning a revolver he had been given by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.
The shot hit Alfonso in the forehead and the teenager died instantly.
After being forced to swear he had not done it on purpose, Juan Carlos was sent back to his austere academy. Don Juan never forgave his son, but he tirelessly tried to restore the Spanish throne on his behalf.
The late Princess Diana with Juan Carlos during a visit to Spain back in 1987
Juan Carlos talking to Queen Elizabeth in the Alcazar of Seville
The former monarch with his son, King Felipe VI of Spain, in 2018
During his younger years, Juan Carlos became close to Franco, who prepared the future monarch to succeed him and maintain his hard-line regime.
The feared dictator nominated Juan Carlos as his successor in 1969 and he swore loyalty to Franco’s Movimiento Nacional.
However, when Franco died in 1975, Juan Carlos instead ushered in parliamentary democracy.
His position was further cemented when, in 1981, he saw off a coup d’etat attempt that saw disgruntled members of the Guardia Civil attempt to seize power.
Facing the decision of either fleeing Spain or staying and risking death, Juan Carlos made a public television broadcast while wearing his uniform as the head of the armed forces.
Support for the coup melted away, whilst the king’s popularity skyrocketed.
His married Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark in Athens back in 1962 and the couple had three children together – Infanta Cristina of Spain, Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo and Infante Felipe, who is now King of Spain.
However, it has been claimed in the past that the former king has a secret aristocrat daughter called Alejandra.
The Spanish book, King Corp, El Imperio nunca contado de Juan Carlos I, written by Jose Maria Olmo and David Fernandez, alleged she was born at the end of the Seventies or start of the Eighties.
It claimed she is married with a child and has never staked her claim to the throne despite learning the truth about her real father years ago.
Sofia and Juan Carlos before a dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao and first lady Liu Yongqing in Madrid in 2005
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia with their three children in 1976
However, Juan Carlos has reportedly denied the claims.
The former king is said to have had several illicit lovers and Spanish author Amadeo Martinez Ingles claimed he slept with 62 women in just one six-month stint, and allegedly bedded more than 2,000 female partners between 1976 and 1994.
One rumoured mistress, the 18-year-old actress Sandra Mozarowsky, died in mysterious circumstances in 1977 after falling from her balcony.
Public money worth more than £500,000 today was also allegedly paid to Spain’s 1971 Miss World candidate, Barbara Rey, so she would not spill the beans on their romance.
Another lover, the Spanish photographer Queca Campillo, told how, because they had nowhere to meet for their amorous encounters, she would go to the back entrance of the Zarzuela Palace – the royal residence – and meet ‘in a van they had’.
Meanwhile, the king remained married to Queen Sofia, though it has been reported that the two have not shared a bed since the late 1970s.
He also rubbed shoulders with the British Royal Family and while Princess Diana once commented that he could be a ‘little too attentive,’ she denied suggestions that Juan Carlos ever made a pass at her.
In 2012, Juan Carlos’s media image took a turn for the worse when he persuaded Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn to join him on a hunting trip to Botswana to celebrate her son’s birthday.
The former monarch with his ex-lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn and Manfred Osterwald in Germany in 2006
Actress Sandra Mozarowsky who died after falling from a balcony in 1977
The king fell after an evening of drinking and she had to surrender the use of her private plane so the injured monarch could be secretly flown back to Spain.
An official plane was off the cards because the all-expenses trip had been paid for by a Syrian businessman and kept secret from the government.
The subsequent news of the luxury getaway, and the emergence of a photo of Juan Carlos posing with a dead elephant he had killed during an earlier trip, triggered a worldwide media frenzy, with Corinna now firmly in the spotlight.
The Spanish people were furious that their king had embarked on a lavish jaunt costing around £35,000 when the country was going through a terrible recession and youth unemployment stood at 50 per cent.
Juan Carlos issued a grovelling public apology for his Botswana trip and gave up his £20million yacht, as well as taking a pay cut.
But that did not stop the collapse of the decades-long agreement with the Spanish media to ignore his salacious private life, and so Juan Carlos’s reputation continued to nosedive.
He eventually abdicated on June 18, 2014, and told his subjects: ‘I have decided to end my reign and abdicate the crown of Spain.
‘A new generation is quite rightly demanding to take the lead role.’
Crown Prince Felipe and Princess Letzia on their wedding day with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia in 2004
Juan Carlos and Felipe at the Zarzuela Palace back in Madrid in 2015
On the way out, he also took a swipe at the then Prince Charles, saying: ‘We do not want my son to wither waiting like Prince Charles.’
Juan Carlos left Spain six years later in August 2020 but he still couldn’t avoid controversy for long and details of his financial dealings emerged.
Spain’s Supreme Court had launched an investigation just two months before his departure into his alleged involvement in a high-speed rail contract in Saudi Arabia.
The late Saudi King Abdullah allegedly deposited £77million (85million euros) into a Swiss bank account that Juan Carlos was said to have access to.
However, the case was ultimately dropped.