The news about Iñaki Urdangarin that Infanta Cristina would never have wanted to hear

January 2026 has become a date marked in red for the Royal Family. That month, the memoirs of Iñaki Urdangarin will be released, a work that promises to reveal family secrets and launch criticisms at members of the monarchy. Infanta Cristina would be deeply affected by this decision, which could blow up the delicate balances that are still kept within Zarzuela.

The announcement, confirmed by Pilar Eyre in an interview, has caused an emotional earthquake within the Borbón family circle. "Iñaki started writing his book when he was in prison and it's a book about his life," the journalist revealed. What motivations are behind this decision? What will be the consequences of its publication?

Iñaki Urdangarin's memoirs will be released at the beginning of next year

Away from the spotlight and public life, Iñaki Urdangarin experienced his time in prison as a process of personal transformation. According to what he revealed in an interview, the time behind bars pushed him to rediscover reading and to start writing as a therapeutic tool.

Pilar Eyre, an expert on the Royal Family, emphasizes that this process began in solitude: "It was two years and five months absolutely alone." "He lived in a monastic cell, it was tiny, containing only a cot and a chair. He didn't speak to anyone all day," she reveals, about the austere environment in which the seed of the book was born.

Unlike other texts about the Royal Family, these memoirs will have an internal perspective, written from the experience of a man who was part of the family core. Iñaki Urdangarin will not only talk about his sports career, but also about his marriage to Cristina and his relationship with Juan Carlos I, Felipe VI, and Queen Letizia.

Eyre keeps that the pages are filled with a sense of betrayal: "Urdangarin feels very hurt by his ex-father-in-law. He believes Juan Carlos let him fall, that he didn't defend him at any time," she reveals. That wound remains open and would have translated into a critical narrative that could make more than one member of the institution uncomfortable.

A book that could harm the Royal Family

The relationship between the current kings of Spain and Urdangarin will also be a central topic in the book. "Felipe and Letizia were very close friends of his. They came to Barcelona a lot and the four of them went out together often," Eyre recalls.

However, that close friendship was definitively broken in 2015. At that time, Felipe VI decided to withdraw the title of Dukes of Palma, in a decision that the former duke considered a "public slap."

The disenchantment with those who were his accomplices for so many years will be, according to the journalist, one of the main threads of the work. It will not be a literary revenge, but rather an emotional catharsis that seeks to record his version.

The Royal Family, for now, hasn't issued any official assessment about the book. However, Pilar Eyre clarifies that "they have no influence over the publisher that's going to release it." In addition, the content has been reviewed from a legal point of view: "If there are offensive things, they'll remove them, but the Royal Family has no right to exercise any kind of censorship."

This legal nuance means that, even if the content may make Zarzuela uncomfortable, no institutional action is expected to stop its release to the market. Urdangarin is free to tell his version, as long as he doesn't cross defamatory lines.

Infanta Cristina, unable to stop Iñaki Urdangarin's memoirs

Infanta Cristina would already be aware of the existence of the book. According to Eyre, her reaction has been one of restraint, since, although she doesn't agree with the project, she can't prevent it either. She, who always kept loyal to her ex-husband, could see in this book a new blow to her personal and family stability.

Cristina would be worried about the effect these memoirs may have on her children and on her relationship with the rest of the family. In addition, the possibility that private details may come to light could also put her discreet public image at risk.

There is no doubt that the announcement of Iñaki Urdangarin's book marks a turning point for the Royal Family. The memoirs could alter the image of the institution and reopen old wounds that could affect Infanta Cristina. Will Urdangarin's account be a liberating version or a source of new conflicts?