King Juan Carlos' passion for cars and bikes
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By h.b. - Jun 16, 2009 - 6:50 AM
A new book claims the Spanish monarch has as many as 65 employees to look after his fleet of 71 vehicles

It’s been known for a long time that Spain’s King Juan Carlos is a fan of cars and motorbikes, and some may remember an accident he had in December 1990 when he was travelling in a Porsche 959 with the Infanta Cristina and left the road after skidding on ice in the Pyrenees.

An attempt to cover up the incident is alleged in a new book ‘El negocio del poder. Así viven los politicos con nuestro dinero’ – The power business – How the politicians live with our money – by Federico Ouevedo and Daniel Forcada.

The book also claims that Don Carlos now uses the state’s vehicles, his own cars and others lent to him by top brands, and that he has as many as 65 employees to look after his fleet of 71 vehicles, some of them classics.

Included is a 1959 Rolls Royce Phantom IV, used for the last time during the wedding between Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz. Business magnate Malcolm Forbes is known to have given the King a Harle y Davidson motorbike.

Technically the King pays for his love of cars and motorbikes from his own money. This year he earns from the state 8.896 billion €, 2.7% more than in 2008.

Meanwhile a group of children aged between 8 and 13 visited the King on Monday, winners of the competition ‘What is a King for you’. The group of 21 winners were selected from 19,237 entries, and had described Juan Carlos to Superman, Buzz Lightyear or Don Quixote.

‘I’m surprised by the imagination they have’ said the monarch.

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