Back to basics for Spanish Royal family

SPAIN’S royal family could be cut back to those members receiving money from the public purse, the Zarzuela Palace revealed.

The announcement follows on from accusations that Instituto Noos, a non-profit making foundation run by Iñaki Urdangarin – the King’s son-in-law, the Duke of Palma – siphoned off public money.

But plans have been afoot for years to streamline the royal family from its present 15 to six, Palace sources insisted. King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe, his wife Princess Letizia and their daughters, the Infantas Leonor and Sofia, would constitute the royal family.

They would be the equivalent of Britain’s “working royals.” The King’s daughters – the divorced Duchess of Lugo, Elena and her two children, together with her sister Cristina, Urdangarin and their four children – would become the King’s Family.

Until now anyone in the line of succession to the throne was considered a member of the royal family but under the new arrangement this would be restricted to those receiving an allocation from the national budget.

Spain’s Royal experts point out that since Prince Felipe’s marriage and with the succession guaranteed by the birth of the Infantas Leonor and Sofia, the roles of Elena and Cristina had been reduced.

They receive an allowance from the royal household, not the state, in return for their public duties. Elena is currently the Mapfre Foundation’s Director of Social and Cultural Projects while Cristina is director of La Caixa Foundation’s International Area.

She also figures as a director of one of the companies allegedly used by Urdangarin to divert funds received by Instituto Noos. Urdangarin could be charged within a couple of months, according to sources close to the Instituto Noos case, although the investigation has established that Cristina was not implicated.

By Annie Maples