Cherchez L'Homme

There was a time –it now seems very long ago–, when Spain admired Princess Cristina, sister of King Felipe of Spain and sixth in line to the throne. She was considered a clever, independent and cool Royal who had her priorities straight. To start off with, she’s the first woman in the Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty ever to obtain a university degree. After majoring in Political Science at the Madrid Complutense University, she got a Master’s Degree in International Relations at New York University, which she would put in practice at the UNESCO office in Paris. She even decided to live in Barcelona, not in Madrid –Spain’s capital–, where the Royal Family lives and where all main national and institutional headquarters are located.

Princess Cristina just seemed to be the perfect Royal gal. And then one summer, at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Cristina met Iñaki Urdangarín, a tall good-looking handball player who represented Spain at that year’s international sports competition. “Who’s that blond guy?” she asked. And after securing his phone number, they embarked on a torrid love-affair that would end in marriage at the Barcelona Cathedral on October 4th, 1997. That same day the couple was bestowed the prestigious Duchy of Palma de Mallorca, recently revoked by the King.

Two decades later the fairy-tale romance has turned into a nightmare grabbing national and international headlines for almost five years. Princess Cristina faces charges of tax fraud based on allegations that her husband tried to embezzle 6 million euros in public contracts through the Noos Institute, a non-profit organization he presided and on which she sat as a board member. And since we know she once led a discreet life with no money-frenzy involved, it does seem fair to say: “Cherchez l’homme!”