Spain’s former King Juan Carlos, 84, CAN be taken to court in London over claims he sent spies to threaten his wealthy ex-lover after judge dismissed his plea for Crown Immunity ruling he is no longer head of state and must ‘answer as a private individual’
- Ex-head of state’s lawyers had argued the High Court had no jurisdiction in case
- Former lover, 58, seeking personal injury damages, alleging she was threatened
- Today judge ruled Juan Carlos was not king so no longer had any special status
Spain’s former king Juan Carlos I does not have Crown Immunity and can be taken to court to face claims he sent Spanish agents to Britain to harass and threaten his former lover, a judge ruled today.
The 84-year-old former head of state’s lawyers had argued at the High Court last December that English courts have no jurisdiction to hear a case brought by Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, a wealthy businesswoman based in London.
The Dane, 58, is seeking civil personal injury damages, alleging she was threatened, had her overseas properties broken into and was spied on after their relationship turned sour.
His lawyers in turn argued that he was immune from the jurisdiction of the English courts, and any allegations had to be brought before Spain’s Supreme Court.
But judge Matthew Nicklin disagreed, stating that ‘whatever special status the defendant retained under the law and constitution of Spain, he was no longer a ‘sovereign’ or ‘head of state’ so as to entitle him to personal immunity’.
The former King of Spain, Juan Carlos, has failed in his bid to plead Crown Immunity to evade explosive claims that he sent Spanish agents to Britain to harass and threaten a former lover, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (they are seen together in Barcelona in 2006)
Abu Dhabi-based Juan Carlos was also ‘not a member of the ”household” of his son, the current Spanish King Felipe VI, that would give him legal protection, he added.
‘The effect of the court’s decision is that the civil claim brought by the claimant will be allowed to proceed,’ a summary of the judgment stated.
Lawyer Robin Rathmell, representing zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, said the ruling showed that Juan Carlos ‘cannot hide behind position, power or privilege to avoid this claim’.
He was now ‘answerable to an English court… as a private individual’.
Juan Carlos, listed in court documents by his full name – Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor Maria De Borbon y Borbon – strenuously denies the allegations.
Submissions claimed the king, who ruled from 1975 until his abdication in 2014, was in an ‘intimate romantic relationship’ with zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn from 2004 to 2009.
Court papers accuse Juan Carlos of using spies to place her under surveillance, to hack her phones and internet, mount a campaign of smears and issue death threats.
The royal showered her with gifts, even after they broke up. But the situation soured when she declined to rekindle the relationship, leading him to pursue a ‘pattern of conduct amounting to harassment’, it was alleged.
As well as threats, break-ins and surveillance, Juan Carlos ‘demanded the return of gifts’, and, she claimed, she suffered ‘trespass and criminal damage’ at her home in rural central England.
Court papers accuse Juan Carlos of using spies to place Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein under surveillance, to hack her phones and internet, mount a campaign of smears and issue death threats. (She is pictured in Monaco in 2014, six months after Juan Carlos abdicated)
Gunshots were fired at and damaged security cameras at the front gate of the property, she alleged, accusing the former king of being angry at her refusals.
Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein claims she suffered a bizarre night-time attack at her £6 million Chyknell Hall estate in Shropshire, where extensive security was breached and nothing was taken but a hole was drilled in her bedroom window.
On an earlier occasion, she received an anonymous phone call threatening that she would die in a car crash in a French tunnel – ‘between Monaco and Nice’ – in the same manner as the late Princess Diana.
Papers allege that Juan Carlos and a senior Spanish general organised mercenary soldiers to occupy her apartment in Monaco in 2012, while she was living there.
Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein had conducted a five-year romance with the married Juan Carlos, from 2004 to 2009, but the court papers suggest the relationship ended when it became clear that he was sleeping with other women.
The couple’s affair became public knowledge in 2012 when, with the relationship already over, it emerged that the two had been on safari to Botswana with Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein’s son.
The hunting trip scandalised Spain, especially as it was reported that the king had shot and killed an elephant.
Two years later, in June 2014, he stepped aside in favour of his son, Felipe VI, and took the unofficial title King Emeritus.
Twice divorced, Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was formerly married to a German aristocrat.
In an earlier interview, she said: ‘After eight years of abuse, which has also targeted my children, and given there is no end in sight, I reluctantly find myself with no other option but to pursue legal action.’
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