Post date: Apr 14, 2012 4:41:57 PM
The Spanish newspaper El Pais said on its website that the king was hunting elephants in Botswana when the accident happened.
The 74 year-old monarch suffers from osteoarthritis and had a lung operation in 2010 and knee and foot surgery in 2011.
Juan Carlos came to the throne and became head of state shortly after the death in 1975 of dictator Francisco Franco.
He oversaw the tense transition to democracy and earned great and lasting respect among Spaniards by publicly condemning an attempted coup in 1981.
Spain's King Juan Carlos recovers in hospital after hip replacement surgery which the country's El Pais newspaper says came after an accident during an elephant hunt.
MADRID, SPAIN (APRIL 14, 2012) (REUTERS - Spain's King Juan Carlos I underwent hip replacement surgery in Madrid on Saturday (April 14) after breaking his right hip in a fall during a private trip to Botswana, the Royal Household said. He suffered a fracture "in three fragments" of the hip, a statement said.