An ex-lover of Spain’s former King has told a High Court judge that she wants more than £126 million in damages after ‘campaign of harassment’ by the former monarch following the break-up of their relationship saw her ‘lose her significant income’ as a strategic consultant.
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Danish businesswoman, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, 58, is suing Juan Carlos, 85, in London.
Mrs Justice Collins Rice is overseeing the latest stage of the litigation at a High Court hearing in London.
Lawyers representing Juan Carlos, who denies harassment, have asked the judge to dismiss Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn’s claim.
They say she wants more than £126 million including more than £112 million for ‘loss of business and income’ and argue that she has no ‘realistic’ prospect of success.
Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, who has homes in England, has told the judge in a written witness statement that she had earned ‘significant’ sums working as a ‘strategic consultant’ and helped clients including Volkswagen develop business relationships in jurisdictions where they were not established.
She says she wants to hold Juan Carlos to account for the ‘harm caused to my mental health by his harassment’ and to hold him responsible for the ‘full financial consequences of his actions’.
‘My earnings as a strategic consultant were reduced to zero from 2015 onwards, despite having earned from that business on average nearly £7.5 million every year between 2008 and 2012, and approximately £4.5 million in each of 2013 and 2014,’ she said in her witness statement.
‘Because of the harassment, I haven’t been able to continue working as a strategic consultant.
‘My existing business relationships had been completely destroyed by the defendant.’
Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn told the judge: ‘Given my earning capacity, the defendant will not have been surprised by the amount of my claimed losses.’
She said: ‘The defendant contacted my existing business relationships… and persuaded them to sever their business relationships with me.
‘I believe he did this by promising that they would benefit from their association with him…
‘Between 2013 and 2015, the defendant caused articles about me and my business affairs to be published by the media, through which I believe he intended to damage my reputation and to prevent me from earning a living.’
She said she had recently begun a new business providing advice to clients who found themselves in ‘complex international challenges’.
Juan Carlos ruled from 1975 until his abdication in 2014 and the succession of his son, King Felipe VI.