A former lover's taped conversations, murky financial dealings splashed across front pages, and a legacy in ruins.
The emergence of shocking allegations of corruption and money laundering against former Spanish King Juan Carlos have cast doubt over the very future of the monarchy, under his son King Felipe.
Juan Carlos seemed set to go down in history as the leader who skilfully guided Spain from dictatorship to democracy after the death of Gen Francisco Franco in 1975, but the 82 year-old's private financial activities have prompted two court inquiries in Switzerland and Spain.
Why Felipe has been ensnared
After Juan Carlos abdicated in response to rumours about his scandalous personal life in 2014, King Felipe sought to cut a contrastingly austere figure to that of his larger-than-life father, in a country where the monarchy does not enjoy high levels of support.
But Felipe's name has also been linked to the luxury lifestyle bankrolled by his father's offshore millions, prompting calls for reforms and greater accountability. The king is now under pressure to distance himself from his father.
Following the royal money trail
In 2018 a Swiss prosecutor reacted to media rumours regarding Juan Carlos's obscure fortune and launched an investigation, questioning the ex-king's Swiss-based lawyer, financial adviser and other associates, including an ex-lover, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
Prosecutor Yves Bertossa's ongoing inquiry centres on a $100m (£80m) gift to Juan Carlos from the king of Saudi Arabia in 2008, and whether it was in connection with the awarding of a €6.7bn contract for a Spanish consortium to build a high-speed railway from Medina to Mecca three years later.....MUCH MORE
Mr Bertossa has discovered the existence of two offshore funds, connected to Swiss bank accounts.
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One is the Panama-based Lucum Foundation, set up to receive the $100m gift from the late King Abdullah, and which was liquidated in 2012, with almost the entire original amount donated to Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a German-born businesswoman.
Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein possesses a contract signed by Juan Carlos demonstrating that the donation was an "irrevocable gift" and not a money-laundering scheme, but also says she paid back money loaned to her from Lucum to buy a pair of apartments used by her and Juan Carlos in the Swiss resort of Villars.
The other fund is Fondation Zagatka, registered in Liechtenstein and whose primary beneficiary is Álvaro de Orleans. He is a distant cousin of the king who has been questioned by Mr Bertossa over why its account received multi-million payments from overseas business deals while shelling out more than €5m on private jet flights used by Juan Carlos.
Mr de Orleans claims he has helped the king out of a sense of "family honour" and that Zagatka's millions are all his own....
