The fraud case involving Princess Cristina and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, the former Duke and Duchess of Palma, is going to have to be held in a special courtroom.
The hearing will begin on 11 January in Palma but because the case is going to involve 363 witnesses, 18 suspects, 21 judges, 80,000 documents and the courtroom will have to accommodate 120 people, not to mention the hundreds of journalists who will be covering the case, the hearing will be held in the Balearic School of Public Administration on the Son Rossinyol industrial estate near Palma prison.
The princess has already been stripped of her title of the Duchess of Palma and she will heap yet further embarrasment on Spain’s ruling Bourbons when she becomes the first royal-born member to stand trial. The 50-year-old youngest daughter of the former king, Juan Carlos, will be in the dock alongside her disgraced husband, a one-time Olympic handball champion who is accused of fraud and embezzlement.