Former Spanish monarch King Carlos reported to have slept with 2,154 over an 18 year period

SPAIN's former monarch King Juan Carlos is reported to have had sex with about 2,154 women over an 18 year period between 1976 and 1994 according to a new book published about his life due out in September.

In the book, King Carlos is described as a sex addict and has bedded thousands of women even after marrying Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark. According to the explosive book, the retired European monarch had an astonishing 2,154 sexual partners between 1976 and 1994 after he allegedly became estranged from his wife, to whom he is still married.

In 2014, the 79-year-old abdicated the throne, making way for his son Felipe VI, who began a tour of Great Britain on Wednesday. According to the new book, Juan Carlos I: The King of 5,000 Lovers was written by Amadeo Martínez Ingles, King Carlos was already a prolific lovemaker prior to his 1962 union with the King of Greece’s daughter, to whom he is still married.

He reportedly slept with 332 partners while at a military academy as a young man. King Carlos became monarch in 1975, 13 years into his marriage but was allegedly found by his queen in a compromising position with actress Sara Montiel a year later.

Montiel denies there was any affair but since then, according to the book, he has put more than 2,000 notches on his royal bedpost. His alleged lovers include Barbara Rey, a former Miss World contestant and Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, a German philanthropist.

Ms Rey is alleged to have received $3m from the Spanish secret service to deny the affair, although she says she has not received any such payment. In 2015, the Spanish Supreme Court dismissed the paternity claim of the 47-year-old daughter of Belgian governess Liliane Sartiau.

King Carlos’ reputation was damaged when he took an elephant hunting trip in Botswana in April 2012 at the height of Spain’s financial crisis. He handed over the throne to his son two years later, saying that the new generation must be at the forefront.