Spain's Black-Eyed King Dons Sunglasses

Spain's 73-year-old King Juan Carlos donned sunglasses at an official ceremony Thursday to hide a black eye inflicted by a door knob.

"He was hit by a door knob," said a spokesman for the royal family, insisting that it was an unimportant accident on Tuesday that had no impact on the monarch's engagements.

Spain's newspapers splashed photographs of the black-eyed king on Wednesday, many of them recalling that he had also been injured in 1981 when he crashed through a glass door while running to a swimming pool.

After the press had snapped photographs of his encounter with the door knob, Juan Carlos started wearing dark glasses, which he kept on during Thursday's awarding of fine arts medals at the Culture Ministry.

The king had a benign tumor removed from a lung in May 2010. He was given an artificial right knee joint in June this year, and had a torn Achilles tendon repaired in September.

Juan Carlos was proclaimed king in 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco who had designated him as successor since 1969. He is widely respected for helping to usher in democracy.