In A First, Spanish Princess Cristina To Appear In Court Over Husband's Corruption Case

Spanish Princess Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca and youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain, is officially the first direct descendant of a Spanish royal to appear in court. She has been summoned to appear on April 27.

The 47-year-old princess is married to Iñaki Urdangarín, a former Olympic handball player who was accused in November 2011 of diverting and misusing public funds for his own profit through the Instituto Nóos, a nonprofit sports institute Urdangarín ran with Spanish entrepreneur Diego Torres. He and Torres are alleged to have funneled around $6.4 million away from their companies, AP reported, in part by “massively overcharging” local authorities for organizing sports events, the BBC said.

In December 2011, the Spanish royals announced that Urdangarín would be excluded from all official appearances and functions for the foreseeable future.

As of Wednesday, Cristina has also officially been named a suspect in the corruption scandal, the Spanish daily El País reported. Cristina served as a Nóos board member, but the presiding judge originally decided there was no evidence she had been involved in her husband’s misdeeds. Since the case began, however, emails have come to light indicating that Cristina may have known what Urdangarín was up to, especially, the judge argued, since she was a co-owner of another business, Aizóon, that her husband and Torres also ran.

One email, dated Feb. 20, 2003, that Urdangarín allegedly sent to his wife, her parents the king and queen, and the princess’s private secretary, asked their advice on two versions of a letter he intended to send out to “contributors, clients and friends,” El País reported.

The Spanish royal palace has thus far refused to comment, saying it does not comment on judicial matters.