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A new scandal is rocking the Spanish royal family after pictures showed Iñaki Urdangarin, the husband of Infanta Cristina, holding hands with another woman.
The former handball player, 54, was seen on a walk with the woman, allegedly an unnamed co-worker at the Imaz & Asociados law firm, in a photo published by the Spanish magazine Lecturas.
Urdangarin married Infanta Cristina, the sister of King Felipe VI, in 1997, and the couple share four children. In 2018, he was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering in excess of £4.5 million through his non-profit organisation, the Noos Institute.
Last year, he was granted permission to move to the Grade 3 Spanish prison regime, which means he only needs to report to prison once a week.
Speaking to the press this morning, he said the family would manage the situation with ‘the utmost calm and together as always.’
While the pictures came as a shock to the general public, sources told Hola! that Infanta Cristina was not surprised by the snap and ‘already knew’ about the relationship – although husband and wife did spend Christmas together.
The Spanish magazine Lecturas shared a picture of Iñaki Urdangarin, the husband of Infanta Cristina, holding hands with another woman on Wednesday. But sources told Hola! the snap has not come as a shock for King Felipe VI’s sister
Urdangarin and Christina married in 1997 and share three children together, including their son Miguel, left
Lecturas reported Urdangarin and the woman were photographed in France, while Cristina was in Switzerland with their children.
Speaking to the local press as he arrived at his workplace in Vitoria this morning, Urdangarin said: ‘Things happen and we are going to manage it in the best possible way.
‘We will manage [the situation] with the utmost calm and together, as always,’ he added.
Meanwhile, the couple’s second child, Pablo, 21, who plays handball for Barcelona FC, said ‘We are all going to love each other the same.’
The couple with their sons Juan, a security officer and their son Miguel during a family outing in Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2019
Meanwhile, sources told Hello! sister publication Hola! that Infanta Cristina had not been surprised by the picture of her husband with another woman and that she ‘she already knew.’
Cristina’s marriage to Urdangarin has experienced some ups and downs in the past ten years following the investigation into fraud claims that led to his conviction.
In 2011, Urdangarin was accused of diverting public funds through the Nóos institute, and the non-profit organisation was investigated by the Spanish Anticorruption Bureau.
In December 2011, the Anticorruption Bureau confirmed that Urdangarin had been sending substantial sums of public money to accounts in Belize and in the UK.
The couple with their son Miguel and their daughter Irene, right, in Vitoria in December 2019 during a family outing
He appeared in front of judges twice in early 2012 to discuss these allegations of corruption.
In June 2016, five years into the investigation, a prosecutor called for Urdangarin to be jailed for 19 years and be fined 980,000 euros.
He was sentenced to six years and three months in prison and a fine of 512,000euros in February 2017, but appealed the ruling.
In 2018, the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced him to five years and ten months imprisonment, and he reported to the prison of Brevia in Avila.
However, in 2020, he was allowed to move to the Grade 3 regime, meaning he regained his freedom of movement an only has to report to jail one a week.
The couple, pictured in October 2021, have had ups and down in their marriage since Urdangarin faced corruption charges in 2011, which led to his conviction to five yeard and ten months in jail in 2018
In a bid to distance themselves from these corruption claims, the Spanish royal family removed the section dedicated to Iñaki Urdangarin on their website.
Infanta Cristina was also investigated for corruption, but was acquitted of any charges.
However, her brother King Felipe VI stripped her of her title of Duchess of Palma in 2015.
Lecturas claimed Felipe and the now disgraced king Juan Carlos insisted that Cristina leave Urdangarin when he faced issues with the law, but she stuck by him, eventually drifting away from her family.
However, in 2019, the publication claimed that Cristina had consulted a divorce lawyer in a move to end her marriage with Urdangarin, after it was reported he had had an affair with the wife of one of his wedding witnesses.
She remains sixth in line to the throne behind her older sister, Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo, and her two children.
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