Young Spanish royal Don Froilan accused of racial abuse at theme park after trying to jump queue

The nephew of King Felipe is alleged to have said: 'I'm fourth in line to the Spanish throne'

Don Froilán with his mother Elena, Duchess of Lugo (Getty)

A young member of the Spanish royal family has been accused of racially abusing a staff member at a theme park in Madrid, after being told that he was not allowed to jump the queue for a ride.

A nephew of King Felipe, 16-year-old Don Froilán, apparently lost his temper at the Parque de Atracciones last week, when he attempted to jump a long queue. After being challenged by a schoolteacher, Froilán is alleged to have said: “I’m fourth in line to the Spanish throne.”

According to El Economista newspaper, an attendant at the park then told the teenager that he would have wait his turn for the ride, at which point, Froilán shouted: “You shut up, you f***ing chino.” “Chino” is used in Spain to describe a person of Chinese origin.

It is not the first time Froilán – or Felipe Juan Froilán de Todos los Santos de Marichalar y Borbón, to give him his full name – has found himself in trouble.

Last year, he was kicked out of school after twice failing his exams, and in 2012 he managed to shoot himself in the foot during a hunting trip. At the time he was not yet 14, the minimum legal age to use firearms in Spain.

Indeed, while the popularity of Spain’s immediate royal family has soared since King Felipe came to the throne last year, those on the periphery of the family find themselves in ever-hotter water. Froilán is the son of the King’s sister, Elena, the Duchess of Lugo. His aunt is Cristina, the Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, who is set to become the first Spanish royal family member ever to stand trial.

Last November, a court upheld tax fraud charges against her, but dropped allegations of money laundering. The case concerns her husband’s business dealings and, if found guilty, Princess Cristina could face 11 years in prison.

King Felipe was crowned last year, after the abdication of his father, Juan Carlos.

A hero to many for helping to restore democracy to Spain after the 40-year dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos’s later years on the throne were dogged by scandals.

At the height of the financial crisis, which hit Spain especially hard, the former king was photographed hunting elephants in Botswana.

After he suffered an injury during the trip it emerged that he had been involved in a years-long affair with a German aristocrat.