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The soul of a princess
Scandals make lonely. If one sees these days Infanta Elena of Spain (49) on her (rare) appointments for the royal family, one recognizes: She finds it difficult to laugh in the service of the crown. Even more - she looks depressed and haggard.
Obviously, Elena is troubling the turbulence in her family. She was the one who suffers most from the adversities in the palace, without the public taking much notice of the princess' soul distress, my court correspondent . It was Elena who, in 2007, through her break from banker Jaime de Marichalar (50), first signaled that the Bourbon bourbon world was not as healthy as five years ago, as many assumed. The divorce from the husband took place in 2010. For most Spaniards, this was a hitherto unimaginable situation in the allegedly austere and arch-catholic royal family.
Elena's son Froilan (14), after all number five on the throne list, shot himself in the foot, which caused a lot of negative press, Elena's father King Juan Carlos (75) was after controversial elephant hunt in Africa and alleged Liason "shot" by the media with a German princess, and Elena's brother-in-law and sister - Iñaki (45) and Cristina (47) - are so deeply involved in a financial scandal that they want to move their family home to Qatar.
For Elena this means: The man is gone, the sister is gone and the father more than controversial. Her relationship with her brother Felipe (45) had never been so close that she saw him as a true confidant, insiders say. Thus, the once fun-loving, athletic teacher became a lone fighter. One looks for a new man at her side in vain. It could Elena, as recently wrote a Spanish magazine, right now need a shoulder to lean on.
