King Emeritus Juan Carlos has been visited in the Intensive Care Unit by his youngest daughter, Infanta Cristina.
Cristina arrived at the Quirónsalud University Hospital in Pozuelo de Alarcón on Monday afternoon to visit her father, alongside her children, Juan Valentín, Irene and Miguel.
Infanta Christina stayed at the hospital for around half an hour, and left without making any comment to the press.
Juan Carlos I underweant major cardiac surgery over the weekend, an operation which has been described as successful.
The former King’s condition has since ‘evolved favourably’ according to doctors, and he is expected to be transferred out of intensive care within the next few hours.
Infanta Cristina has been largely isolated from The Royal Family and has remained out of the public eye since the Nóos corruption Case back in 2017. She was acquitted of charges, but her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, was convicted and sentenced to several years in prison. The scandal was, in part, blamed for the abdication of King Juan Carlos and the low approval rating of the Spanish Royal Family upon Juan Carlos’s renouncing of the throne.
It’s not yet clear how long Juan Carlos will be in hospital following the surgery. Doctors decided to operate after a routine medical check up in June this year. Bypass surgery treats obstructions in the heart to improve blood flow and it’s among the most common heart procedures in older patients.
Juan Carlos retired from public life at the start of June 2019, just days before the check up revealed he needed cardiac surgery. Earlier this year, it was confirmed he had undergone an operation to remove a lesion from his face. Last year, he was in hospital for several days for surgery on his knee.
Juan Carlos became King of Spain in November 1975 on the death of the fascist dictator, Francisco Franco. He abdicated in favour of his only son, Felipe, in June 2014. He is widely admired for his role in establishing democracy in Spain in the early part of his reign.
