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King Felipe VI (pic) ascended the throne in 2014 with the goal of restoring the monarchy’s prestige after his father Juan Carlos abdicated against a backdrop of scandals over his finances and love life. — Casa de SM El Rey/Francisco Gomez handout via Reuters
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MADRID, April 26 — Spain’s royal palace yesterday unveiled King Felipe VI’s personal wealth for the first time, saying it amounted to €2.6 million (RM12.1 million).
The announcement came as Spain’s leftist government said it would today pass a decree to “strengthen the transparency, accountability, efficiency” of the scandal-hit royal household “in line with the principles that have presided” during Felipe’s reign.
Felipe ascended the throne in 2014 with the goal of restoring the monarchy’s prestige after his father Juan Carlos abdicated against a backdrop of scandals over his finances and love life.
The new king promptly ordered an audit of the royal household’s accounts and issued a “code of conduct” for its members.
Then in 2020 Felipe renounced any future personal inheritance he might receive from his father, and stripped him of his annual allowance after fresh details of his allegedly shady dealings emerged.
The bulk of the king’s personal wealth, around 2.3 million, are deposits in checking or savings accounts, with the rest made up of art, antiques and jewellery, the royal palace statement said.
The heritage comes from the remuneration he received over the last 25 years, first as Prince of Asturias and since 2014 as king, it added.
Since he ascended the throne, Felipe “launched the path of modernisation of the Crown to make it worthy of the respect and trust of its citizens”.
“His Majesty the King, guided by this spirit of service and civic commitment added today to his constitutional responsibilities his personal decision to make public his assets,” the statement said.
A key figure in Spain’s transition to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, Juan Carlos was the target of three separate probes over his financial dealings.
One of them involved possible illegal commissions linked to a high-speed rail project in Saudi Arabia that was awarded to a Spanish consortium in 2011.
The inquiries prompted the 84-year-old to flee the country into self-imposed exile in 2020.
Spanish prosecutors shelved all the investigations in March but Juan Carlos announced shortly after that he would continue to live in the United Arab Emirates, and visit Spain frequently. — AFP