King Juan Carlos I leaves hospital 'with brand-new plumbing' after triple heart bypass

Now he has been discharged from the Quirónsalud Hospital in the up-market Madrid commuter town of Pozuelo de Alarcón, the Rex Emeritus will spend a few days resting at the Zarzuela Palace before returning to his packed agenda.

Although HRH Juan Carlos I retired from Royal duties on June 2 this year, he continues to follow a full schedule of private engagements, such as charity patronage, as does his wife, Queen Sofía.

The 81-year-old former monarch – who abdicated in favour of his son King Felipe VI in June 2014 – spoke to reporters as he left the hospital.

“I've got brand-new plumbing and downpipes – phenomenal!” he told them.

The ex-head of State had been booked in for the heart bypass on Saturday, August 24 following his routine full health check over June 11 and 12, and ever since he came round from the anaesthetic last weekend, reports from his family visitors have been overwhelmingly positive.

His daughter-in-law Queen Letizia said he had been 'very brave', his wife, Spain's 'Queen mother', said he was 'full of his usual jokes', 'very relaxed' and that 'you wouldn't know he'd had an operation'.

The ex-King's granddaughter and first in line to the throne, Princess Leonor – who will be 14 in exactly two months' time – said on Friday that her granddad 'was getting impatient' and 'wanted to go home'.

She said after visiting him on Sunday that she thought he looked 'very recovered'.

Area manager for the private healthcare chain Quirón Hospitals, Dr Lucía Alonso, read out King Juan Carlos I's medical report: “He is found to be clinically stable, without fever and with his surgical wounds healing correctly.

“A cardiological examination has shown normal heart rhythm and contraction.”

King Juan Carlos, who was moved onto a ward from intensive care on Tuesday after his operation on Saturday, will continue to undergo check-ups under consultant cardiologist Dr Cabrera and chief heart surgeon Dr Alberto Forteza Gil, who carried out the intervention.

The retired monarch is no stranger to going under knife, having been in and out of surgery over the last 10 years.

But his operations have been predominantly for mobility issues, including a knee replacement in 2011 which was repeated in April 2018.

Otherwise, he has been operated on to remove a benign nodule from his lung, and to extract a very early-stage skin cancer which did not require any more treatment – both of which have been completely cured.

Official photograph of King Juan Carlos I leaving hospital today (Saturday, August 31) taken by Spanish radio and television broadcasting company RTVE