King's Former Lover Claims She Was Harassed and Spied Upon and Told: "You Could Face the Same Fate as Diana"

A former lover of the exiled king of Spain, Juan Carlos, has claimed people threatened her to stay silent, lest she end up like Princess Diana. Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, 57, is suing the former king in a dispute over $65 million in gifts. She has accused the former king of having Spanish intelligence agents harass and spy on her after their relationship ended in 2012, BBC News reports. The former king has denied all wrongdoing.

This week the Court of Appeal in London heard claims that Spanish agents undertook "an operation" at her flat in Switzerland, leaving behind a book on "the involvement of the British and US intelligence agencies in the death of Princess Diana." Read on to find out what happened. 

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, a German-born businesswoman who lives in England, filed a harassment case in 2020. She is suing the 84-year-old Juan Carlos for personal injury damages. The businesswoman claims the former king, who is married, enacted "a continuous and ongoing campaign of harassment" against her after their relationship ended, and this caused her "great mental pain," BBC News reports.

As part of that campaign, Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn says an "operation" took place at her apartment in Switzerland, and she was given an ominous message. The revelation was made during an appeals court hearing in London on Tuesday.

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn says "intruders" left a book about the "involvement of the British and US intelligence agencies" in the death of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, at her apartment, lawyers told the appeals court. Sayn-Wittgenstein also alleges she received a disturbing phone call that referenced Diana's death.

"(Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn) received a follow-up telephone call in Switzerland from an unknown person speaking Spanish who informed her that 'there are many tunnels between Monaco and Nice' — i.e., an allusion to the manner in which Princess Diana was killed – as a result of a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, which the book left by the intruders had identified as being at the hands of intelligence services," a lawyer for Juan Carlos said.

A lawyer for Juan Carlos denied the businesswoman's allegations, the Express and Star reported. "He emphatically denies that he engaged in, or directed, any harassment of the (Ms zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn) whatever, and he rejects her allegations to the contrary as untrue and inconsistent with previous public statements made by her," said attorney Timothy Otty.

He added: "The allegations also involve an alleged abuse of power wholly inconsistent with his majesty's important role in the transition of Spain to a successful parliamentary democracy and his long period of service as sovereign."

Juan Carlos, 84, assumed the Spanish throne in 1975 and abdicated in 2014 amid various financial scandals. He fled to Abu Dhabi, where he lives today. The former monarch is appealing a UK High Court ruling in March that he is not entitled to "sovereign immunity" in the harassment case as a member of the Spanish royal family.

The exiled king returned to Spain earlier this year to visit family. He was in attendance at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in London in September, where he appeared alongside his estranged wife Queen Sofia.

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Details about the relationship between Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn and the king have been released in a podcast titled Corinna and the King. In the series, the businesswoman talks about corruption allegations that surrounded Juan Carlos when he was still king, BBC News reports. Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn says Juan Carlos presided over a "court of miracles."

She claims the king would return from trips "happy as a five-year-old and there would be bags full of cash," which she alleges was "a very habitual situation." "His wish was everyone's command, and people were literally falling over backwards just to please him," she added.