When King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia celebrated their silver wedding anniversary on May 14, 1987 they hosted a lavish reception at the Royal Palace inviting 25 other couples from across Spain who married on the same day.
But their golden wedding anniversary which falls next Monday will be marked with no such celebration.
The lack of a formal celebration has done much to fuel speculation over the state of the 74-year-old Monarch's marriage.
The last bout of speculation began when King Juan Carlos fractured his hip during an ill-fated safari trip to Botswana to hunt elephants.
Amid the public outcry over the nature and expense of the private trip, which led to an unprecedented apology by the shame faced monarch issued on the steps of the hospital, it was noted that Queen Sofia had paid only a brief visit to his bedside.
Royal commentators were quick to remark that the 26-minute bedside visit by Queen Sofia, who had not been on the hunting trip but visiting her Greek relatives, hinted at the deep breakdown in their relationship.
"The failure of his marriage to Queen Sofia, from whom he is practically separated, is public knowledge," wrote Jose Antonio Zarzalejos, a royal commentator and the former director of respected daily ABC.
Such comments voiced in the mainstream press would once have been unthinkable. But a series of scandals and gaffes by Spain's royals have seen their popularity plummet and ushered in an open season on a family once awarded the sort of privacy and respect that could only be dreamed of by their northern cousins the Windsors.
The roving-eye of Juan Carlos has long been an ill-kept secret, the subject of gossip at dinner parties across Spain, but now with the taboo on publishing palace secrets a thing of the past, even King Juan Carlos' acquaintance with a German aristocrat, a glamorous blonde 28 years his junior, has made headlines.
Claims of an "intimate relationship" going back six years have been fiercely contested by the woman, who is reported to have accompanied him on the Botswana trip, and she has threatened legal action against any newspaper that names her.
But the episode marks the latest in what is turning out to be an "annus horribilis" for Spain's monarch - to coin a phrase used by Queen Elizabeth.
The king's son-in-law is accused of embezzling public funds and in February became the first Spanish royal in modern history to be questioned in court.
The King had done his best to distance himself from the scandal engulfing the Royal Family even relieving his youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, wife of the shamed Iaki Urdangarin, from public duties.
But this week reports emerged of emails implicating the monarch himself in the unsavoury business dealings and the prosecutor in charge of the case is said to be poised to investigate further.
The once much loved King has faced calls to abdicate over the Botswana hunting trip, which served to highlight the huge gulf between the privileged royals and the fate of Spaniards struggling in deep economic crisis.
Continue reading...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/9254999/Spains-king-and-queen-will-not-celebrate-Golden-Wedding-anniversary.html
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