A sad day

I remember attending the reception at Palma city hall to celebrate the fact that the city would have their own duke and duchess, the Infanta Cristina (the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos of Spain) and her husband Iñaki Urdangarin. It was a joyous occasion attended by hundreds of people. It was during the event that it was announced that the popular Las Ramblas in Palma would be renamed the The Ramblas of the Dukes of Palma. That was 15 years ago. Yesterday, the city council announced that the street name would revert again to solely Las Ramblas as a result of the ongoing investigation into fraud allegations involving Iñaki Urdangarin. The city council said that they had taken the decision with a heavy heart but admitted that the allegations levelled at the duke by the judiciary could give the city a bad name and this had led them to the decision. It is all very sad. But I would say that so far Urdangarin has not been found guilty of any charge and at the moment he is only being questioned by a judge in connection with fraud allegations. The council could be accused of rather jumping the gun but I can see their point. The bail demand of eight million euros for Urdangarin and his business partner set by the judge yesterday is an enormous sum and I suspect that the council took their decision when the bail announcement was made yesterday. So Palma loses its royal street, a great shame because it was a very proud day for the city when it was first unveiled.