2015 Spanish general election was suspect from having benefited of some of the crimes allegedly committed by her former husband Jesús Sepúlveda, charged in the Gürtel case. The Monarchy had also come under public scrutiny as a result of a corruption scandal affecting Duke of Palma Iñaki Urdangarín, the Nóos case, and his spouse Cristina de Borbón, Infanta of Spain and daughter of King Juan Carlos I, for possible crimes of tax fraud and money laundering. These corruption allegations, coupled with other scandals—such as public anger at King Juan Carlos' elephant hunting trip to Botswana at the height of the economic crisis in 2012—as
Juan Carlos I of Spain 2013 at Madrid's Quirón hospital. In April 2018, Juan Carlos was admitted to hospital for a surgery on his right knee. After the King's son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarín was accused of corruption (the "Urdangarín affair"), the King in 2011 for the first time detailed the yearly royal budget of 8.3 million euros, excluding expenses such as the electricity bill, paid by the State. Spanish news media speculated about the King's future in early 2014, following criticism and family scandal; the King's chief of staff in a briefing denied that the 'abdication option' was being considered. On the morning of 2 June