Waiter Who Claimed to Be King of Spain Juan Carlos’ Love Child Drops Dead in Bar

A waiter who spent years trying to prove he was the love child of Juan Carlos, the former king of Spain, died suddenly at the Pa i Trago bar in La Bisbal, Spain, as he was about to take a sip of red wine, Spanish media reports.

Before his death, Sola insisted that he had DNA tests that proved he was a 99 percent match with Juan Carlos, the former king who abdicated power in 2014 after breaking his hip while on an African safari with a lover.

The former king later became embroiled in twin tax scandals in Spain and Switzerland involving a check for $100 million from the former king of Saudi Arabia, that have made it a convenient choice to live in Abu Dhabi to avoid Spanish and Swiss authorities.

Despite the king’s abdication, Albert Sola, was convinced that being recognized as his son would change his fate, according to his 2019 autobiography El Monarca de La Bisbal. Sola unsuccessfully petitioned a Spanish court in 2015 to prove the king’s patrimony.

The court case caught the attention of another suspected love child of the playboy king. Ingrid Sartiau, a housewife from Belgium, was also convinced she was a product of her mother’s one night stand with the king in 1966. The two worked together to try to find other children who might be products of the king’s alleged philandering.

The Crazy Private Life of Juan Carlos, Spain’s Royal Horndog

Sola, a married father of two, grew up as an orphan and had heard rumors of his royal lineage his whole life, according to his autobiography despite never clearly outlining how it is he had the former king’s DNA to run a conclusive test.

The ex-king was last spotted at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, which he attended with Queen Sofia. In 2021, an alleged former lover Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein told a British journalist with the BBC that she was given a handsome check for around $65 million for her loyalty, which was largely thought to be hush money.

Sola died after he ordered a glass of red wine and before he had taken a sip, according to El Pais newspaper. An autopsy is underway, but authorities say they suspect his cause of death did not involve foul play, the newspaper states.

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