Juan Carlos I of Spain?

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His Majesty King Juan Carlos I

King Juan Carlos I (Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias) In English: John Charles I, (born January 5, 1938 in Rome, Italy), is the reigning King of Spain, after his grandfather Alfonso XIII. Two days after the death of dictator Francisco Franco on November 20, 1975 Juan Carlos was designated King according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. He successfully oversaw the transition of Spain to a democratic constitutional monarchy.

Juan Carlos also claims the title of King of Jerusalem, as the successor to the royal family of Naples. He is also a direct descendant of Queen Victoria through his grandmother Victoria Eugenie, and Louis XIV of France through his family name, Bourbon.

Early life

Spanish Royal Family HM The King HM The Queen HRH The Prince of Asturias HRH The Princess of Asturias HRH The Infanta Elena HE The Duke of Lugo HRH The Infanta Cristina HE The Duke of Palma

The future King's early life was dictated largely by the political concerns of his father, Juan de Borbón, and Franco. He moved to Spain in 1948 to be educated there after his father persuaded Franco to allow this. He began his studies in San Sebastián and finished them in 1954 at the San Isidro Institute in Madrid. He then joined the army, doing his officer training, 1955a href="1957.html" title="1957">57, in Zaragoza.

In 1956, his younger brother, the Infante Alfonso died of a gunshot wound in Estoril, Portugal, with Juan Carlos as the only witness. The official explanation is that it was an accident which occurred while cleaning a gun. It is uncertain whether Alfonso or Juan Carlos pulled the trigger.

From 1957 he spent a year in the naval school at Pontevedra and another in the Air Force school in San Javier in Murcia. In 1961 he graduated from the Complutense University. He then went to live in the Palace of Zarzuela, and began carrying out official engagements.

Franco's heir, 1969-1975

The regime of Francisco Franco had come to power during the Spanish Civil War, which had pitted socialist and democratic republicans against monarchists and fascists, with the latter two groups ultimately emerging successful. Despite his alliance with monarchists, Franco was not keen to restore the deposed Spanish monarchy once in power, prefering to instead head a regime with himself as Head of State for life. Though Franco's partisan supporters generally accepted this arrangement for the present, much debate quickly ensued over whom would replace Franco should he be assasinated, or otherwise eventually pass away. Monarchist factions demanded the return of a hardline absolute monarchy, and eventually Franco agreed that his successor would be a monarch.

The heir to the throne of Spain was Juan de Borbón, the son of the late Alfonso XIII. However Franco viewed the heir with extreme suspicion, believing him to be a liberal who was opposed to his regime- a fairly accurate assement. Franco then played with giving the throne to Juan Carlos's cousin, Alfonso de Borbón Dampierre. In response, Juan Carlos started to use his second name Carlos to assert his pretensions to the heritage of the Carlist branch of his family.

Ultimately Franco decided to skip a generation and name Prince Juan Carlos as his personal successor to the Head of State. Franco hoped the young Prince could be groomed to take over the nation while still maintaining the ultra-conservative nature of his regime. In 1969 Juan Carlos was officially designated heir, and was given the new title of Prince of Spain (not the traditional Prince of Asturias).

Juan Carlos met and consulted with Franco many times while heir apparent, and often performed official and ceremonial state functions alongside the dictator- much to the anger of hardline republican fascists and more moderate liberals, who had hoped that Franco's death would bring in an era of reform. However, despite his apparent public support of the Franco regime, Juan Carlos personally harboured ambitions to bring liberal reform to the country, much like his father. Though this fact would eventually become somewhat of an open secret as the years progressed, and Juan Carlos began meeting with political opposition leaders and exiles, Franco for his part remained largely oblivious to the Prince's views, and denied allegations that Juan Carlos was in any way disloyal to his vision of the regime.

During periods of Franco's temporary incapacity in 1974 and 1975 Juan Carlos was acting Head of State. Near death, on October 30, 1975, Franco gave control to Juan Carlos. On November 22 the Cortes Generales made Juan Carlos King of Spain.

Restoration of the monarchy

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia with Laura and George W. Bush