Spain’s King Felipe VI reveals his income for the first time

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The current king of Spain, Philip VI, made public the size of his personal fortune for the first time. According to the report of the Royal Chamber, provided to the country’s court, the monarch’s fortune is estimated at 2.6 million euros. Of these, about 2.3 million are in the bank, and the remaining 300 thousand are works of art, antiques and jewelry (for comparison, the fortune of Queen Elizabeth II in 2021 amounted to approximately 430 million euros). According to the declaration, the king has no official property of his own abroad. The documents also say that His Majesty made his fortune on annual stipends paid to him by his father even when he was a prince.

The king had to disclose his income and fortune in general due to a series of corruption scandals related to his father and ex-king of Spain Juan Carlos I. In 2014, upon ascending the throne, Philip promised to make the royal family’s finances more transparent and is trying to follow this principle . In addition, according to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, from day to day the government must approve a bill aimed at reforming the maintenance of the royal family.

Recall that in June 2014, Juan Carlos publicly announced his abdication in favor of his son Prince Philip of Asturias. The king explained his decision as follows:

I have decided to end my reign and renounce the Spanish crown. A younger generation is striving to come to the fore, with new energy, who want to decisively implement changes and reforms that meet the requirements of the times. My son is the epitome of stability, maturity and due preparation, so it is with a clear conscience and a calm heart that I hand over the reins to him.

The monarch was accused of taking bribes while building a railway in Saudi Arabia. Then the offshore account, which allegedly belonged to Juan Carlos, received $ 100 million. Similar accusations were made by Swiss law enforcement agencies, who believed that the former Spanish king took “kickbacks” when concluding state contracts. But a few years later, the investigation failed to prove that these millions were precisely a bribe. But even if this is true, the statute of limitations for the crime has already expired. This, as well as the immunity of the head of state, became the reasons for not further investigation.

And although the trial against him was terminated, and the king himself is not going to return to his homeland, his relatives are trying to distance themselves from these scandals so as not to spoil their image.