Spain’s Casa Real (or Royal House in English) now has over a million Twitter followers. They reached the milestone just hours after the announcement that King Juan Carlos would go into self-imposed exile.
The account was created in 2014 just a month before King Juan Carlos handed over the throne to his only son, King Felipe VI. It’s aim was to make the Spanish monarchy more well-known and share the work of the family on social media. They’ve since sent over 6,300 tweets.
Casa Real only follows 16 account, all of which are verified royal family accounts, Spanish government related, Olympic, or EU government related.
Yesterday, Casa Real released a letter from King Juan Carlos to King Felipe where he told his son of his intention to move abroad.
The allegations surrounding Juan Carlos have grown over the past months. He is under investigation over claims he hid money that came to him via a rail contract in bank accounts in Switzerland. In March 2020, Felipe VI declared publicly that he would not take any personal inheritance from his father and he withdrew the allowances being paid to Juan Carlos.
It’s believed the former monarch left Spain via Portugal for the Dominican Republic. His wife, Queen Sofía, will remain in Spain and continue her royal duties with the support of her son.
King Juan Carlos ruled Spain from 1975 until his abdication in 2014. He was instrumental in the establishment of democracy in the country after the death of fascist dictator, Francisco Franco.