Duchess of Palma relocates to Switzerland with her company, but Urdangarín will stay in Barcelona

KING Juan Carlos' youngest daughter, the Infanta Cristina is due to move to Switzerland for work – but her husband, disgraced businessman Iñaki Urdangarín, is forced to stay behind in Barcelona because of his ongoing court case.

Whilst Urdangarín grapples with accusations of fraudulent appropriation of public funds by setting up his profit-making business, the Nóos Institute, as a charity, his wife, the Duchess of Palma, is preparing a move to Geneva.

She has worked for 20 years for the La Caixa Foundation, the charitable and social arm of the high-street bank, which promotes culture, science and education, invests in humanitarian causes in Spain and the third world – such as helping the poor and assisting the disabled in getting into work – as well as funding aid following natural disasters.

The Infanta will be managing and coordinating the international side of La Caixa Foundation, involving liaising with various United Nations agencies in Geneva.

She will make the move at the end of the summer so that her and the Duke of Palma's four children can start the new school year in Switzerland.

The Duke and Duchess have been searching for a house in Geneva for some weeks, having put their Barcelona home on the market a few months back in order to pay the 8.2-million bail bond in respect of Urdangarín's possible civil liabilities – a figure which, together with his former business partner in the Nóos Institute, Diego Torres, he has to deposit with the court.

The couple have already lived abroad, being based in Washington, USA when Urdangarín was posted there with his company, telecommunications giant Telefónica, and the Infanta switched to the social welfare department of La Caixa and was made manager, allowing her to continue her work from abroad.

He left Telefónica in summer 2012, after the family had been in the USA for three years.

Urdangarín could legally move to Switzerland with his wife and children, since the judge decided there was no flight risk and has chosen not to confiscate the Duke's passport, but the accused needs to be present whenever he is called to testify.

The Infanta's husband had already considered moving to Qatar to take up a job as Spanish handball team trainer, in a bid to escape media pressure in his home country, but the position fell through in the end.

Sources from the Royal household were reluctant to confirm or deny the Infanta's plans to move to Switzerland or Urdangarín's intentions of following her or staying in Barcelona.