Why do Infantas Elena and Cristina go to see the Emeritus in Abu Dhabi so often and it’s not just because of affection (it’s the money, stupid!)

On the eve of the televised debate between Trump and Kamala Harris, it is very appropriate to recall that famous phrase: The economy, stupid(the economy, stupid), widely used during Bill Clinton’s 1992 election campaign against George HW Bush. And it comes to mind because money is the explanation for so many visits by the princesses to their father, apart from how much they love their father. These headlines that we find every now and then are very common, if not permanent: The princesses Elena and Cristina travel to Abu Dhabi and will be with their father, the news that we pick up in the media usually read. We also know about the trips of several of Don Juan Carlos’s grandchildren, who always receives the children of his daughters with joy and sometimes even with photographs.

Froilán, Marichalar and Elena’s eldest son, has even spent long periods of time in the United Arab Emirates, a country that lacks democratically elected institutions or political parties, where citizens have no right to change their government, where free association is restricted and workers’ rights are severely limited. In the country where Don Juan Carlos has resided for four years, human trafficking exists and the use of foreign children as camel jockeys continues, despite promises by the Emir of Abu Dhabi and President of the country, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahayan, to take measures to end these practices.

But that is another matter. The point is that Don Juan Carlos lives there and therefore pays taxes. And he is also safe from paparazzi, as are his children, family, friends when they visit him. It is not easy to follow the trail of his money there either.

However, we know that King Juan Carlos I has created a foundation in that country to centralize his fortune abroad and leave it as an inheritance to the princesses Elena and Cristina when he dies. Many people wondered how the princesses and their children can lead the lifestyle they lead. Being, in the case of the Urdangarins, children of an ex-prisoner, boyfriend of a Vitoria administrative worker, divorced, with children, who makes trips to wonderful hotels.

It is true that Infanta Cristina has spent her entire life working under the umbrella of foundations, just like her older sister, very well-paid jobs, which they have because of who they are. Infanta Elena works at the Mapfre Foundation and receives a salary of around 300,000 euros a year. For her part, her younger sister receives around 400,000 euros from the Aga Khan Foundation, based in Geneva. It is another thing that their gravy train will end when their father dies. It is also true that Jaime de Marichalar tried to LVMH Moët Hennessy, that is, for Louis Vuittonbetter known as LVMH (initially the acronym for Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), the French multinational luxury conglomerate and owner of 76 renowned brands and chaired by Bernard Arnault.

Or that the party girl and top influencer Victoria Federica, who this Monday will be with Pablo Motos, She never stops charging fees for her covers, poses, photocalls, or participation in television contests like the one that premieres on Antena 3 this season. And all very well paid.

The fortune of grandfather Juan Carlos, managed by his daughters and by financiers around him

But the real money, the billions, the true fortune, is that managed by Juan Carlos I, the rich grandfather. He is the one who presides over the new foundation and his daughters, the princesses, occupy seats on the board of trustees, according to El Confidencia, citing sources close to the monarch. We also know that several financiers from Juan Carlos I’s entourage participate in the management of the company.

The legislation of the United Arab Emirates makes foundations an ideal vehicle for the transfer of assets in the event of death: zero taxation, secrecy surrounding the rules and statutes that allow the entire assets of the company to be controlled automatically at the same time that the testator dies, in addition to preserving the identities of the beneficiaries.

In the eyes of the public, this foundation is something beautiful and charitable: it highlights the positive side of the reign of Juan Carlos I, especially his role in the Transition, and it finances cultural and educational projects linked to the figure of the king whom Franco left in charge of a dictatorship and whom he guided towards a Constitutional Monarchy.

Felipe VI has not participated in the operation nor does he appear as a future beneficiary of the company. The son of King Juan Carlos renounced his father’s inheritance in March 2020 after the existence of a company, Lucum Foundation, was revealed, which was intended to give him ownership of 100 million dollars that had been gifted by Saudi Arabia to his father in 2008.

The scandal surrounding the creation of this entity, following the shelving of investigations against the emeritus king by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office of the Canton of Geneva (Switzerland), has been attempted to be kept secret, although a sector of public opinion is unaware that the Emeritus King has an immense fortune earned throughout his years as head of state.

Juan Carlos I, 86 years old, wants what any grandfather or father would want: to ensure the financial solvency of his family after his death, since neither Doña Elena nor Doña Cristina belong to the Royal House and therefore do not receive a financial allocation from the Zarzuela budget managed and administered by their brother, Felipe de Borbón. Only the King himself, Queen Letizia and Doña Sofía, as well as Princess Leonor and her sister Infanta Sofía belong to the Royal Family, apart from the Emeritus, to whom his own son withdrew the allocation.

Journalist José María Olmo says that Juan Carlos I also wants to use the new corporate instrument to recover the assets he still controls outside Spain and, subsequently, transfer them to the princesses. Although officially, the former monarch has no money, we know that in December 2020 he paid the Treasury 678,393 euros to avoid a conviction for tax crime for not declaring the contributions he received from the Mexican businessman Allen Sanginés-Krause.

4.4 million euros to regularize their situation with the Treasury

In February 2021, he paid another 4.4 million to regularise the private flights given to him by his cousin Álvaro de Orleans. Formally, he is supposed to have paid this debt with money borrowed from several wealthy friends. In 2016, two years after his abdication, Juan Carlos sold a luxury penthouse in London, opposite Hyde Park, valued at 62.7 million euros, and around 20 million were diverted in the operation. He is now allegedly benefiting from fabulous financial aid from the royal family of the Emirates, which covers the costs of his stay, security, assistants and private flights, among other items. The absolute monarchs of the Persian Gulf do not respect Human Rights but they treat their friends with great generosity, and thanks to their colossal income from oil and their investments, they can afford it.