MADRID (AP) — King Juan Carlos has been discharged from a hospital in Madrid nine days after entering to undergo reconstructive surgery on his left hip joint.

The 74-year-old Spanish monarch joked with journalists as he left a hospital Sunday in the front passenger seat of a chauffeur-driven car, promising to ‘‘take things very easy’’ during his recuperation.

A hospital statement says the king had ‘‘very satisfactorily completed the first phase of his rehabilitation.’’

In April, the head of state was flown back from a controversial elephant hunting safari in Botswana, after fracturing his right hip joint.