Spain’s Princess Cristina is to stand trial on charges of tax fraud in January, in an unprecedented court appearance that will see her become the first member of the royal family in the dock.



Cristina, the 50-year-old sister of King Felipe VI, was formally charged late last year, following a four-year investigation into the affairs of her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, who faces charges for fraud, falsifying documents and embezzlement. The former Olympic handball player ran a charitable foundation, the Nóos Institute, which is accused of siphoning off some €6m in public funds.

The trial will begin on 11 January, a court in Palma de Mallorca said on Tuesday, and see Cristina, her husband and 16 others appear in the dock.

It is alleged that Urdangarin and his former business partner, Diego Torres, used royal connections to win public contracts, overcharged for services and stashed the money in privately owned companies and offshore tax havens.

Cristina was on the board of the Nóos Institute and with her husband co-owned another company, Aizoon. In a ruling last year, the investigating judge noted that Urdangarin’s alleged crimes would have been “difficult to commit without at least the knowledge and acquiescence of his wife”.

If convicted Cristina faces up to four years in prison, while Urdangarin could face a possible sentence of up to 19 years. Both the princess and her husband have denied any wrongdoing.

One of Spain’s longest-running alleged corruption scandals, the probe into Cristina and her husband has been a constant source of embarrassment for King Felipe since he took over the throne of his embattled father, Juan Carlos, last year.

Seeking to placate the tens of thousands of Spaniards who greeted the news of his father’s abdication with demands for a referendum on the future of the monarchy, the new king vowed to usher in an era of transparency and turn the page on the royal family’s scandal-plagued past.

Felipe broke off public ties with his sister, notably excluding her and Urdangarin from royal activities such as his coronation. He went one step further in June, stripping Cristina of her title as Duchess of Palma de Mallorca. Still, Cristina remains sixth in line to the throne, a right that only she can relinquish.

Many have pointed to the allegations against the princess as an indicator of how deeply embedded corruption is within Spanish society. Graft scandals have left few among the Spanish ruling class untainted, engulfing politicians on the left and right, as well as businesses, unions and football clubs.

As Spain gears up for general elections on 20 December, corruption continues to rank as a top concern for Spaniards, second only to unemployment. With the country’s two main political parties hampered by high-profile graft cases, polls suggest Podemos and Ciudadanos, both of which have vowed to crackdown on the issue, are poised to make substantial electoral gains.