Surgeons gave Spain’s 75-year-old King Juan Carlos a temporary hip replacement, but said he requires more surgery for a long-term fix, likely giving fuel to speculation of a history-making abdication.
US hip specialist Miguel Cabanela led the surgery at a Madrid hospital to give the frail-looking monarch a new left hip after the previous artificial joint fitted last November became infected and painful, making it hard to walk.
“Fortunately it has all gone well for his majesty, for us, for the country,” Cabanela told a news conference after the two-and-a-half-hour operation at the private Quiron Hospital in the western suburbs of Madrid.
