Spain's former King Juan Carlos to visit Spain after 2-year exile

Former Spanish King Juan Carlos is due to land in Spain later on Thursday for his first visit since he departed to Abu Dhabi in 2020 under a cloud of financial scandals that shook the Royal House.

The former monarch will go to Sanxenxo in the northern region of Galicia to attend a sailing regatta and end his trip on Monday with a visit to his son, King Felipe, in Madrid, the Royal House said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

Juan Carlos. 84, will not stay in the Zarzuela palace in Madrid, the king's official residence, the statement said.

Once revered for his role in the country's transition to democracy, the popularity of the former king fell drastically after a whirlwind of scandals that included an affair with Danish national Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein Sayn and the shooting of an elephant in Botswana. He abdicated the throne in 2014.

The former monarch left Spain for Abu Dhabi in August 2020 after several investigations opened in Spain and Switzerland over alleged fraud.

He now keeps his permanent residence in the Gulf state but said in March he would visit Spain frequently after prosecutors dropped the investigations.

Juan Carlos could face trial in Britain in a harassment case brought against him by his former lover Sayn-Wittgenstein.