The crown in crisis: Corruption scandals rock the Spanish monarchy
Spain's royal family has been rocked in recent years by wave after wave of scandal and controversy. The former king, Juan Carlos I, fled to the United Arab Emirates last August amidst ongoing corruption investigations. In this episode of Filling the Sink, Swiss journalist Sylvain Besson describes how he broke the story of how Juan Carlos received 100 million dollars from Saudi Arabia and hid them in Switzerland. Cristina Tomàs White speaks to Albert Calatrava, one of the writers of The King's Armor (L'Armadura del rei), a book that examines how Spain has protected its scandal-ridden monarchy for the past four decades, turning a blind eye to its sins. Guifré Jordan and Alan Ruiz Terol join Lorcan Doherty to discuss the rise and fall of the monarchy's popularity, the current crises engulfing the crown, and whether there could be a republic in the future. And with the crown having the lowest approval rating in Catalonia out of any institution – 1.86 out of 10, according to the Center of Opinion Studies (CEO) – Scarlett Reiners asks the people of Barcelona what they think.