Spanish Queen Letizia's leaked text on bank scandal draws ire

Queen Letizia of Spain is being criticised after her text messages with a business executive allegedly involved in a credit card scandal were leaked. Spain's digital portal eldiario.es has revealed the i-messages shared in October 2014 between Letizia and Javier Lopez Madrid, a former board member of Bankia bank.

In the text conversation, the Spanish queen reportedly called Madrid her "yoga mate". He happens to be a friend of King Felipe VI as the latter also took part in the chat. The Spanish royals expressed their affection for Madrid in the chat.

Letizia, 43, wrote to Madrid: "I wrote to you when the story on the credit cards came out. We know who you are and you know who we are. We know each other, like each other, respect each other. To hell with the rest. Kisses yoga mate (miss you!!!)," the portal reported.

Madrid, who is among many being investigated for allegedly misusing bank funds, thanked the queen, saying: "In future I will take extra precautions, we live in a very difficult country and I will be even more aware of my conduct."

King Felipe, who is striving to revive a scandal-hit Spain, later joined the chat seconding Letizia's views. "We do indeed!" he wrote.

Spain's royal palace declined to comment on the issue but an anonymous spokesperson said the royals were no longer friends with Madrid due to his judicial issues. "The king doesn't directly explicitly support him [Madrid]," the insider told AFP. "It's different for the queen, who is clearer," he added.