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Alfonso XIII of Spain, Fransisco Franco, King Felipe VI of Spain, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Kingdom of Spain, Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen Sofia of Spain
Juan Carlos I (Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born January 5, 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from November 1975 until his abdication in June 2014.
Juan Carlos was born to Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, and Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in Rome, Italy, where his grandfather King Alfonso XIII of Spain and other members of the Spanish royal family lived in exile following the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931. He was baptized as Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias. He was given the name Juan Carlos after his father and maternal grandfather, Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
Generalísimo Francisco Franco, the Spanish head of state who initiated the civil war by means of a coup d’état against the constitutional republic in 1936, took over the government of Spain after his victory in the Spanish Civil War in 1939, and in 1947 Spain’s status as a monarchy was affirmed and a law was passed allowing Franco to choose his successor. Juan Carlos’s father, Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona was the third son of King Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenie (daughter of Princess Beatrice, the fifth daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) who had renounced his claims to the throne in January 1941. Juan was seen by Franco to be too liberal and in 1969 was bypassed in favour of Juan Carlos as Franco’s successor as head of state.
Juan Carlos spent his early years in Italy and came to Spain in 1947 to continue his studies. After completing his secondary education in 1955, he began his military training and entered the General Military Academy at Zaragoza. Later, he attended the Naval Military School, the General Academy of the Air, and finished his tertiary education at the University of Madrid.
In 1962, Juan Carlos married in Athens Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark daughter of King Pavlos of Greece and Princess Frederica of Hanover (granddaughter of German Emperor Wilhelm II) first in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Church of St. Denis, followed by a Greek Orthodox ceremony at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. She converted from her Greek Orthodox religion to Roman Catholicism. The couple had two daughters and a son together: Elena, Cristina, and Felipe.
Due to Franco’s declining health, Juan Carlos first began periodically acting as Spain’s head of state in the summer of 1974. Franco died in November the following year and Juan Carlos became king on November 22, 1975, two days after Franco’s death, the first reigning monarch since 1931; although his exiled father, Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona did not formally renounce his claims to the throne in favor of his son until 1977.
Expected to continue Franco’s legacy, Juan Carlos, however, soon after his accession introduced reforms to dismantle the Francoist regime and begin the Spanish transition to democracy. This led to the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in a referendum, which re-established a constitutional monarchy. In 1981, Juan Carlos played a major role in preventing a coup that attempted to revert Spain to Francoist government in the King’s name. In 2008, he was considered the most popular leader in all Ibero-America.
Hailed for his role in Spain’s transition to democracy, the King and the monarchy’s reputation began to suffer after controversies surrounding his family arose, exacerbated by an elephant-hunting trip he undertook during a time of financial crisis in Spain where he broke his hip and was with his alleged mistress, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
Abdication
Spanish news media speculated about the King’s future in early 2014, following public criticism over his taking an elephant hunting safari in Botswana and an embezzlement scandal involving his daughter Cristina, and her husband Inaki Urdangarin. The King’s chief of staff in a briefing denied that the ‘abdication option’ was being considered. On the morning of June 2, 2014, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made a televised announcement that the King had told him of his intention to abdicate. Later, the King delivered a televised address and announced that he would abdicate the throne in favour of the Prince of Asturias.
Royal officials described the King’s choice as a personal decision which he had been contemplating since his 76th birthday at the start of the year. The King reportedly said, “No queremos que mi hijo se marchite esperando como el príncipe Carlos.” (English: “I do not want my son to wither waiting like Prince Charles.”) As required by the Spanish constitution, any abdication would be settled by means of an organic law. A draft law was passed with 299 in favour, 19 against and 23 abstaining.
On June 18, he signed the organic law passed by parliament several hours before his abdication took effect. The Prince of Asturias was enthroned on June 19, 2014, as King Felipe VI of Spain and the new Kings daughter, Leonor became the new Princess of Asturias.
Juan Carlos thus became the fourth European monarch to abdicate in just over a year, following Pope Benedict XVI (February 28, 2013), Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (April 30, 2013), and King Albert II of Belgium (July 21, 2013).
Since his abdication King Juan Carlos has retained, by courtesy, the title and style of King that he enjoyed during his reign.