Former King of Spain wins latest round of bitter London court fight with ex-lover

THE former king of Spain has won the latest stage of a London court battle with an ex-lover.

Businesswoman Corinna zu Saynwittgenstein-sayn, 57, has sued

Juan Carlos, 84, who abdicated in 2014, and wants damages for personal injury.

She alleges that he caused her “great mental pain” by spying on and harassing her.

Juan Carlos denies wrongdoing and disputes the claims made against him.

A High Court judge had ruled earlier this year that claims could be considered at a trial in England.

Juan Carlos had appealed – and challenged – some of Mr Justice Nicklin’s conclusions on jurisdiction.

Three Court of Appeal judges, who oversaw a recent Court of Appeal hearing, yesterday allowed his appeal.

Appeal judges Lady Justice King, Lady Justice Simler and Lord Justice Popplewell concluded that “the pre-abdication conduct alleged is immune from the jurisdiction of the courts of this country”.

Judges have heard that Juan

Carlos ruled from 1975 until his abdication in 2014, and the succession of his son, King Felipe VI.

They have been told that Ms zu Sayn-wittgenstein-sayn is Danish, lived in Monaco between 2008 and 2009, and has homes in London and Shropshire.

Judges have heard that Ms zu Sayn-wittgenstein-sayn wants an “injunction and damages” resulting from “a continuous and ongoing campaign of harassment” against her, “commenced” by (Juan Carlos) from 2012, following the “break-up of an intimate romantic relationship” and her “refusal to let (Juan Carlos) use a financial sum irrevocably gifted to her, or to return other gifts”.

Lawyers representing her have alleged to judges that conduct “includes (the former king) or his agents smearing her and her business in the media, following her, entering her home in Shropshire, and bugging her homes and electronic devices”.

Timothy Otty KC, who is leading Juan Carlos’s legal team, told appeal judges in a written argument that the former king considered Ms zu Sayn-wittgenstein-sayn’s legal action to be “vexatious”.

A lawyer who represents Ms zu Sayn-wittgenstein-sayn said the Appeal Court ruling does not affect claims she made about Juan Carlos’s behaviour after his abdication.

Michael Kim, who is based at law firm Kobre & Kim, said after the ruling: “The judgment applies only to the period when Juan Carlos was the reigning King of Spain. The overwhelming part of Corinna’s claim, from 2014, remains unaffected and should proceed.”