Infanta Cristina, sister of Prince Philip of Spain, divorces Inaki Urdangarin. They announced it with a statement to the Efe agency. In recent days, the former Duke of Palma, who has already given the Royal Family so many headaches, has been “pinched” hand in hand with another woman.
In recent days, photos have appeared that portray Urdangarin walking hand in hand with Ainhoa Armentia, a married woman with two children, a collaborator at the Vitoria law firm where the same former handball player works. “By mutual agreement, we have decided to end our marriage relationship. The commitment to our children remains intact. As this is a private decision, we ask for the utmost respect from all those around us.
“Cristina de Borbone and Inaki Urdangarin” reads the text of the short statement in which they formalize their decision without giving more details on the terms of their separation. The relationship between Cristina di Borbone and Inaki Urdangarin began in July 1996, during the Olympic Games in Atlanta, in which he participated as a player for the Spanish national team.
Spain, the husband of the Infanta Cristina surprised with another woman: “These are things that happen”
by Alessandro Oppes
Despite the relationship that apparently was not well regarded in the Royal Family, a year later the couple still managed to get married in the cathedral of Barcelona, in front of 1,500 guests. Four children were born from the marriage. But Urdangarin is a thorn in Prince Felipe’s side: in June 2018 he was sentenced by the Supreme Court to 5 years and 10 months in prison for a case of corruption and trafficking in influences, the Noos case.
Since last summer, at the conclusion of the reintegration program in society, he has been allowed to serve his sentence in Vitoria, where his mother resides and his brothers have various properties. Urdangarin was photographed with the 43-year-old mother of two minor children and married since 2003, as she strolled hand-in-hand through Bidart in the French Basque Country. The news probably took Cristina de Borbone by surprise, who lives in Geneva but visited her in-laws last Christmas; but the uproar that the news of the betrayal had in the Spanish newspapers led her to take the step that many considered indispensable. Cristina’s older sister, Infanta Elena, also divorced her husband Jaime de Marichalar in 2010.