A right royal scandal broke out in Spain this morning after it was alleged that King Felipe of Spain´s sisters had received the Covid vaccination while visiting their father, King Juan Carlos, in Abu Dhabi. They were accused of vaccine queue jumping because a large number of Spaniards have still not received the jab.
Unidas Podemos and the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) rounded on the royal family. The Infantas Elena and Cristina are alleged to have received the jab last month.
The Spanish royal family have been rocked by a whole series of scandals recently. Just last week King Juan Carlos made an emergency four million euro tax return.
It was not clear how the two got their shots, as the UAE only provides free COVID-19 vaccinations to residents and citizens, and requires a valid identification card. According to statistics from World in Data, as many as 60% of the UAE's population have received a vaccine so far.
"It is very unpleasant, very ugly," Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz told Spanish state television TVE. "We, the people who exercise some sort of representation, must lead by example."
She said it was not right for the royals to be vaccinated while in Spain many medics and vulnerable people are still waiting for immunisation against COVID-19.
Cristina's lawyer office did not answer a request for comment, while Fundacion Mapfre, the Madrid-based social and cultural branch of insurance company Mapfre where Elena de Borbon works, declined to comment.
Spain aims to have 70% of its 47 million population inoculated by summer, but only 1.3 million have been fully vaccinated so far, about 2.7% of the total.
Authorities are working through priority groups of the most vulnerable members of society, with over 80-year-olds and essential workers such as police officers and teachers currently receiving shots.
Elena de Borbon, 57, was supposed to wait a few weeks to get vaccinated in Spain, while her sister is officially a Swiss resident.
The outcry arose after many local politicians and high-ranking military officials were outed as having jumped the vaccination queue, triggering a wave of resignations.
A palace source said the king's sisters were not its concern as they were no longer technically part of the royal family since their father abdicated. The king, Queen Letizia and their daughters would get the shots when it was their turn.
The controversy will do nothing to defuse popular anger at Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014 amid several scandals. Supreme Court prosecutors have opened several investigations into his business dealings, including those linked to a multi-billion dollar, high-speed train contract in Saudi Arabia.
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I am no fan of any Royals anywhere, but How is that called queue jumping? she did not have the vaccine in Spain but in another country which nearly the whole population are already vaccinated. Furthermore, what is available in the Gulf States are Chinese and Russian vaccines.
shouldn't royalty get priority?