Madrid: Spain’s King Juan Carlos, who led Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy, will abdicate so his son Felipe can become the country’s next monarch, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy told the country on Monday in an announcement broadcast nationwide.
Mr Rajoy did not say when the handover would happen because the government must now craft a law creating a legal mechanism for the abdication and for 46-year-old Crown Prince Felipe’s assumption of power.
The royal palace tweeted a photo of the king shaking Mr Rajoy’s hand and presenting him with a letter announcing the abdication.
Juan Carlos, 76, has been on the throne since 1975 and was a hero to many for shepherding Spain’s democratic and economic transformation. But his longstanding popularity took a big blow following royal scandals, including an elephant-shooting trip he took in the middle of Spain’s financial crisis during which he broke his right hip and had to be flown from Botswana back to Spain for medical treatment aboard a private jet.
