Spain's King Juan Carlos arrived at a Madrid hospital today for hip-replacement surgery, his eighth operation in just over three years.
"I am very well," the 75-year-old king, who has rejected talk of abdicating despite his ailment, told reporters, waving from his car window as he arrived at the private Quiron Hospital in the western suburbs of the capital.
He was to undergo surgery later today to replace his left hip for the second time, due to an infection around the artificial joint fitted last November.
Juan Carlos is widely respected for his role in Spain's transition to democracy in the 1970s but his image has suffered lately.
His youngest daughter Cristina is caught up in a corruption scandal and the king himself sparked outrage last year for taking an expensive elephant-hunting holiday in Botswana, while Spain struggled through a recession.
That along with his health concerns - he has appeared on crutches, looking frail and sometimes disorientated at public functions -- have fuelled speculation that he may turn a key page in Spanish history by abdicating in favour of his son Felipe, 45.
Announcing news of the operation last week, the royal palace said however that Juan Carlos had at no time considered abdicating nor handing over his powers to Felipe while he recovers from surgery.
The surgeon due to operate on the king, US-based hip specialist Miguel Cabanela, said the recovery period would last between two and six months.
