Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Fresh Scandal Tests Spain's Monarchy

Graham Keeley

   MADRID - Inside the Zarzuela Palace, the spacious residence of King
   Felipe VI of Spain, there is a corridor dedicated to cartoons about the
   royal family.

   Most of the light-hearted jokes are by Spanish media but there is also
   one from France's Le Monde.

   Conspicuous by its absence is the Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves
   (Thursday). This is no accident.

   When Felipe's father Juan Carlos I abdicated in 2014 after nearly 40
   years on the throne, the magazine's artists marked the occasion with a
   special front page cartoon.

   It showed the former king passing his son a crown covered in excrement
   - a pointed reference to the scandals which had led to Juan Carlos' to
   quit the throne.

   It did not go down well at the Zarzuela. El Jueves was ordered to
   withdraw the magazine from sale and gave in to pressure as insulting
   the royal family is a criminal offense in Spain.

   "It seemed that we could make fun of Juan Carlos' love life but if we
   said anything about his financial affairs or anything about how he
   ruled, that would not be tolerated," Isaac Rosa, a former writer for El
   Jueves told VOA.

   "Many staff, myself included, left in protest. We all knew about these
   allegations but no-one reported it in Spain. That has changed now."

   A financial scandal involving the 82-year-old ex-king has put into
   sharp relief Spaniards' relationship with the monarchy.

   Spain's supreme court prosecutor began an investigation into the role
   of its former king in a $7.5 billion deal to build a high speed rail
   link in Saudi Arabia.

.