Where is the king?
After announcing he was leaving Spain on Monday, no-one has seen the former monarch
The question the whole of Spain is currently asking is where is king Juan Carlos?. The former monarch announced he was leaving the country on Monday, but was believed to have abandoned Spain before the letter was published on the royal family website. Although some claim he has been seen in Portugal and the Dominican Republic, his exact location is still a mystery.
THE WHOLE of Spain is currently asking the same question: where has former king Juan Carlos I gone?
Some want to know his new whereabouts out of admiration for his role during the transition to democracy, others are eager to see him in court to answer alleged corruption charges over his personal finances.
Speculation over the former monarch's whereabouts began as soon as he announced he was leaving the country for an unspecified destination amid a growing financial scandal.
In a letter published on the royal family's website on Monday, Juan Carlos told his son King Felipe VI he was moving outside Spain due to the 'public repercussions of certain episodes of my past private life'. Juan Carlos is the target of official investigations in Spain and Switzerland, which are looking into possible financial wrongdoing.
Juan Carlos's bombshell announcement took most Spaniards by surprise.
Neither the royal family nor the government disclosed where he was going.
Some reports suggested that Juan Carlos left Spain on Sunday and flew via Porto, in neighbouring Portugal, to the Dominican Republic.
Others also said he was in the Caribbean country, but only temporarily.
El Confidencial newspaper said he could be in Portugal, where he spent part of his childhood, or in France or Italy, where he has family and friends.
The 82-year-old former king is credited with helping Spain peacefully restore democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
But marred by scandals in the later years of his reign, Juan Carlos in 2014 abdicated in favour of his son Felipe, losing the immunity from prosecution Spain's Constitution grants to the head of state.
Debate
In the wake of Juan Carlos's announcement, some people called for the monarchy to be abolished.
The leftist political party Unidas Podemos, the junior member of Spain's coalition government, wants a public debate about creating a republic.
"There is no reason at all to keep supporting a monarchy which doesn't possess minimum ethical standards," the party said in a statement late on Monday.
But the Socialist party, which leads the government under prime minister Pedro Sánchez, has showed no willingness to follow that path and has declared its support for Felipe. Even so, Sr Sánchez recently said he found the developments about Juan Carlos disturbing.
In Madrid, opinions were divided.
"I think it is really bad that we let him go," said Sara Fernandez, a 38-year-old insurance worker. "He should have to stay here, return the money and do prison time, like all Spaniards when you break the law."
But caretaker Mar Verdugo, 55, urged caution, saying: "We are judging him without any evidence, so when there is a sentence we will see if he has done right or wrong."
Juan Carlos's lawyer, Javier Sánchez-Junco Mans, said in an emailed statement that the former king had asked him to make clear that even though he will be outside Spain he intends to be available to cooperate with the investigation.
A statement from Spain's general prosecutor's office in June said it was investigating whether Juan Carlos received millions of dollars in kickbacks from Saudi Arabia during the construction of a highspeed railway there by a Spanish consortium.
Since then, Spanish media outlets have published damaging evidence from a separate Swiss investigation into millions of euros (dollars) that were allegedly given to Juan Carlos by Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah.
Juan Carlos allegedly then transferred a large amount to a former companion in what investigators are considering was a possible attempt to hide the money from authorities.
The companion, Corinna Larsen, is a Danish-German businesswoman long linked by Spanish media to the former king.
Spanish prosecutors have asked her to provide evidence in the case in September in Madrid.
King Felipe
After media reports claimed Felipe was a beneficiary of an offshore account holding an alleged €65 million gift from Saudi Arabia to Juan Carlos, Felipe renounced any future personal inheritance he might receive from the former king.
Felipe also stripped his father of his annual stipend of €194,232.
The royal house has denied that Felipe had any knowledge of his father's alleged financial irregularities.