Human Interest

Ex-Spanish king Juan Carlos I granted appeal on UK immunity status

London, Jul 18 (EFE).- Former Spanish king Juan Carlos I can appeal a ruling that denied him royal immunity in the United Kingdom and put him on course to face a harassment case filed by his former lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a British appeals court ruled Monday.

The British High Court in March ruled against the ex-monarch’s immunity claims on the basis that the lawsuit pertained to personal actions and not matters of state.

But a new stage was set in the high-profile legal battle Monday when the Court of Appeal in London granted Juan Carlos another attempt to prove his immunity applies in English jurisdiction.

In 2020, zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, born Larsen, sued the former monarch for harassment, claiming she had been surveilled and threatened after their relationship ended.

She has previously stated that it was linked to a 65-million-euro “gift” she had received from the former king in 2012.

The lawyers defending Juan Carlos, father of Spain’s current king Felipe VI, have claimed he was protected by royal immunity given that the allegations against him took place when he was king. However, zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn’s legal team argued that the former king relinquished his royal protection when he abdicated in favor of his son and current king Felipe VI, in 2014.EFE

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