Every family has its drama, but even more so a royal one. And even though our own Royal Family have been engulfed in many scandals and feuds over the years, the Spanish royals seem to not fall so much behind either.
The Spanish Royal Family have had their fair share of high-profile feuds and arguments from affair allegations to family rows and corruption.
The monarchy – which is a branch of the House of Bourbon – is headed by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, their children (Leonor, Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofia of Spain), and Felipe’s parents, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia.
Letizia, a “commoner” before her marriage to Felipe, is a divorcee who used to be a journalist for ABC and CNN, which made her a less favourable candidate for the heir to the throne.
She has also been involved or linked to several royal feuds and tensions over the years, but she’s not the only one. Here, Express.co.uk takes a look at the Spanish royals’ less “fortunate” moments.
Juan Carlos shoots his own brother
A young Juan Carlos was sent off to military school by his father and mother (Image: Getty)
Probably one of the darkest pages in Spain’s royal history is linked to King Felipe’s father, Juan Carlos I, who in 2020 went on to live in self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi.
Juan Carlos was monarch between 1975 and 2014 and was praised for the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy, after the death of General Francisco Franco. But the former king has a string of scandals to his name, including the accidental killing of his 14-year-old brother, Alfonso, in 1956, when he was 18.
The former king is said to have been home for Easter from his military school and was cleaning a revolver he had been given by Franco, when the gun fired and the shot hit Alfonso in the forehead. The teenager died instantly.
Juan Carlos was forced to swear the incident was an accident and was sent back to his strict military school.
Juan Carlos ‘bedded more than 2,000 women’
Juan Carlos was regularly snapped piloting his helicopter, exacerbating his glamorous image (Image: Getty)
