By Nick Butler

Princess Cristina of Spain has become engulfed in her Olympic medal winning husband's embezzlement scandal ©Getty ImagesJanuary 7 - Princess Cristina of Spain, the youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos, has been charged with tax fraud and money laundering due to the financial affairs of her double Olympic handball medallist husband Iñaki Urdangarin.

Urdangarin, also the Duke of Palma de Mallorca, competed at the Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympics, and won bronze medals on the latter two occasions.

In conjunction with his business partner, Diego Torres, the 45-year old is accused of siphoning off €5.8 million ($7.8 million/£4.8 million) of public funds through his charitable Noos Foundation, which puts on sports business conferences in Mallorca and elsewhere in Spain.

Princess Cristina, who married Urdangarin in 1997 and is herself an Olympian - having competed as part of the Spanish sailing team at the Seoul 1988 Games, is implicated because she co-owns the company with her husband.

In a 200-page warning after a lengthy investigation, Palma de Mallorca Examining Magistrate Jose Castro has said there is evidence that the Foundation overcharged for organising conferences and hid the proceeds abroad.

A court appearance has been set for March. 

The two Olympians pose together with their children during happier times ©AFP/Getty ImagesThe two Olympians pose together with their children during happier times ©AFP/Getty Images

As well as paving the way for the first court appearance of a direct relative of the King since democracy was restored in Spain in the mid-1970s, the charges against Princess Cristina mark a new low for the increasingly unpopular royal family.

A Sigma Dos poll published on Sunday (January 5) showed almost two thirds of Spaniards want King Juan Carlos to abdicate after 38 years on the throne and hand over to Crown Prince Felipe, who is still well regarded and not implicated in his sister's case.

Prince Felipe is also well known in the sports world, having been heavily involved in Madrid's ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

However, due to the Olympic past of Princess Cristina and Urdangarin, together with the fact they ran a company organising sporting conferences, the case also marks a further blow for Spanish sport following other recent scandals.

In particular, Spanish authorities received huge criticism last year when Judge Julia Patricia Santamaria ordered the destruction of more than 200 bags of unidentified blood and plasma during the Operación Puerto doping case rather than handing them over to external authorities such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the country's national anti-doping organisation. 

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