King Juan Carlos of Spain has been caught up in the middle of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The father of King Felipe VI, who ruled for nearly four decades, moved to Abu Dhabi in 2020 and has now lived in the United Arab Emirates capital for five-and-a-half years.
Sources have told HELLO!'s sister paper, HOLA, that he is "calm and safe" but added that "anything can happen". They added that the disgraced former monarch "cannot leave" because the "airspace is closed".
The paper confirmed that he has been living in a hotel in the city amid the US-Israeli conflict against Iran due to renovations at his home. "He is better off there (in the hotel) at the moment because he is less isolated," the source added.
Spain's former King
Juan Carlos, 88, reigned as King of Spain from November 1975 until his abdication in June 2014 in favour of his son, King Felipe, citing personal reasons at the time.
© GettyKing Juan had a string of controversies leading up to his abdication after nearly 40 years on the Spanish throne. He reportedly had affairs and among his lovers was Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, a Danish businesswoman with whom he went elephant hunting in Africa in 2012, as Spain languished in a deep recession.
The affair tipped popular opinion against a king who had been internationally acclaimed for steering Spain from dictatorship to democracy in the 1970s. Following his abdication, the former king has spent a period of self-imposed exile in the United Arab Emirates.
He married Princess Sofia of Greece and Athens in 1962, welcoming children Elena, Cristina and Felipe, who is now king. In recent years, the former monarch has suffered from ill-health and had a benign tumour removed from his right lung in May 2010. Later, in 2014, he underwent heart surgery.
© WireImageWhat is happening in the Middle East?
Over the weekend, the United States and Israel launched an attack against Iran, while President Donald Trump urged the country's forces to lay down their arms.
The ayatollah's regime responded with a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones against multiple US bases in the Persian Gulf, with explosions occurring in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On Saturday, it was revealed that US and Israeli strikes had killed the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel launched another wave of strikes against Iran on Sunday, and loud blasts were once again heard over the Gulf states. Thousands of flights have been cancelled, with Dubai, the world's busiest airport, closing over the weekend.
