MOVES under way to provide diplomatic immunity to former King Juan Carlos could thwart two ongoing cases against him by a man and woman who believe he is their father.
Under recently-passed Spanish laws, a reigning Monarch is unable to be prosecuted, but this legal privilege automatically disappeared as HRH Juan Carlos signed the abdication form to hand over the reins to his son, King Felipe VI, the night before the coronation.
As a result, Belgian-born Ingrid Jeanne Satiau and Spaniard Alberto Sola Jiménez, from Catalunya, who have been fighting through the courts to get the ex-Monarch to provide DNA samples, are technically no longer blocked from doing so.
Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, before the coronation, and the former Queen Sofía were given diplomatic immunity which meant any cases brought against them had to go straight to the Supreme Court, the second-highest in the land behind the Constitutional Court.
But for the ordinary citizen to have a case tried in the Supreme Court, they must first go through the local, provincial and then national court and have their appeals rejected by all three.
The same protection is due to be afforded to HRH Juan Carlos, meaning that once this happens, the two people who claim to be his illegitimate children as a result of alleged extra-marital affairs will now struggle to prove it.
Although DNA evidence showing Mme Satiau and Sr Sola Jiménez were indeed the ex-King's children would cause an international sensation and rock the already scandal-ridden Monarchy again, unless Sr Sola Jiménez was older than Felipe VI, he would not displace the new head of State.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com