Spanish King Juan Carlos's son-in-law Inaki Urdangarin was questioned Sunday in court for the second straight day in a corruption case that has rocked the royal family.
The 44-year-old former Olympic handball player, who acquired the title of Duke of Palma when he wed the king's youngest daughter Cristina in 1997, is suspected of embezzling public money paid to a non-profit institution under his control.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
Urdangarin, who wore a blue suit and green tie, greeted reporters as he arrived by foot at the court in Palma on the Mediterranean holiday island of Majorca accompanied by his lawyer Mario Pascual Vives but made no statement.
Vives said his client was appearing before the court "with courage, perseverance and the desire to be able to explain himself".
Urdangarin is suspected of having siphoned off money paid by regional governments to the Noos Institute, a charitable organisation he chaired from 2004 to 2006, for staging sporting events to for-profit companies under his control.
The case implicating the duke, who has visibly lost weight since the court in formally named him as a suspect in December, is the first major scandal to touch Juan Carlos's family.
Urdangarin made clear during his roughly nine hours of closed-door testimony on Saturday that his wife had nothing to do with his business dealings, his lawyer said.
"He continues to state this and I understand that this was made clear," Vives told reporters outside the courthouse on Sunday.
The king is credited with guiding Spain to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975 and is widely respected but the affair has raised indignation at a time when Spaniards are suffering the effects of tough spending cuts and an unemployment rate of nearly 23 percent.
About 200 protesters, many wearing cardboard crowns, whistled and jeered when the duke arrived at the courthouse on Saturday and his car was struck by an egg thrown by a woman from behind police barriers.
The majority of Spaniards, 61.1 percent, believe the duke is guilty, according to a Sigma Dos poll made public Saturday by private television Telecinco. Only 7.4 percent feel he is innocent with the rest undecided.
The poll also found that a significant number of Spaniards, 43.7 percent, believe the scandal posed a risk to the survival of the monarchy in Spain.
Juan Carlos has sought to distance himself from the affair and in December the royal family suspended Urdangarin from official engagements.
But late last year the palace confirmed reports that the king in 2006 ordered Urdangarin to step down from his job at the Noos Institute, leading some to question the monarch's handling of the case.
"Juan Carlos, if you knew why did you keep quiet?," read one sign on display at Saturday's protest.
The court hearings are part of a preliminary investigation into the affair, in which Urdangarin is a suspect along with former associates.
Once the judge has finished questioning all the witnesses and suspects in the case, he will decide whether to order a trial and charge the suspects, or drop the case. The judge has not indicated when he will wrap up questioning.
Since 2009 the duke, his wife and their four children have lived in Washington, DC, where he works for the Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica.
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