Juan Carlos I was the King of Spain from 1975 until his abdication in 2014.
Background
Juan Carlos I was born on January 5, 1938 in Rome, Italy, to Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona and Princess María Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Juan Carlos' early years were spent in exile in Rome, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Estoril, Portugal. His early life was dictated largely by the political concerns of his father and General Franco. He moved to Spain in 1948 to be educated there after his father persuaded Franco to allow it. Juan Carlos has two sisters: Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (born 1936); and Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria (born 1939). He also had a younger brother, Alfonso.
Education
Juan Carlos 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 from 1955 to 1957 at the Military Academy of Zaragoza.
Career
In the 1960s, Juan Carlos augmented his education with training at a number of public administration agencies: the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior, and Ministry of Commerce. In 1969 General Franco made an announcement important of Juan Carlos and to the nation's future. Franco declared that after his retirement or death Juan Carlos, and not Don Carlos (the father of Juan Carlos), would become king. When Franco fell ill in the summer of 1974, Juan Carlos became Spain's acting head of state. Franco died in November of 1975, and Juan Carlos was proclaimed king in a ceremony in the Cortes, the Spanish parliament. Thus began the change to a constitutional monarchy. Until the time of Franco's death, little was known about the political convictions of Juan Carlos. Yet, following his ascendancy he retained the loyalty of the military and Franco supporters while providing Spain with a peaceful transition to a political democracy. The new king asked Carlos Arias Navarro (Franco's prime minister) to remain in office, but eventually appointed Adolfo Suárez, a man often identified as a loyal follower of Franco but who turned out to be a cryptodemocrat, to be his prime minister. Political collaboration between Juan Carlos and Suárez led to the Law of Political Reform, passed by the Cortes in November 1976. This new law ended dictatorship and called for a new bicameral legislature, elected through universal suffrage. A month later the same law was submitted to the people in a referendum. It won approval by 94 percent of the voters. In 1977, the king and Suárez began moving Spain closer to a true political democracy. Political parties (including the socialist and communist parties) were once again legalized; the right to strike was recognized; and the organization of free trade unions was permitted. Then, on June 15, 1977, more than 18 million people - 79 percent of the electorate - went to the polls to elect a 350-member lower house, known as the Congress. The major winners were the center-right coalition, represented by the Democratic Center Union (UCD) with 34. 8 percent of the vote, and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) with 29. 4 percent. A sub-committee of the newly elected Congress produced a constitution that provided Spain with a constitutional monarchy. Under the new constitution, approved by the Cortes in October 1978 and by a national referendum in December, legislative power was vested in a bicameral Cortes, while the king was "the head of state and symbol of its unity and permanence. " The constitution vested executive authority in the prime minister, but the king sanctions and promulgates laws and is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Furthermore, the king, after consulting with representatives of the political parties, nominates a candidate for prime minister, who must win a vote of confidence in the Congress of Deputies. On December 27, 1978, Juan Carlos, before the Cortes, sanctioned the new constitution. Besides overseeing the transition from dictatorship to constitutional government, Juan Carlos personally intervened in matters of state and saved the new government from a right-wing military coup in 1981. On February 23, 1981, a group of military conspirators stormed the Cortes while it was voting on a new prime minister. Although the conspirators intended to set up an authoritarian monarchy under the protection of the armed forces, the plan failed because Juan Carlos refused to engage in the attempted coup. Throughout the night of February 23 the king worked to rally loyal military officers by telephone; and at 1 a. m. on February 24 he addressed the nation pleading for calm and trust, assuring his people that the constitution would be honored. Within hours the coup was over. The king had saved the Spanish experiment with political democracy. After the abortive coup of 1981, Juan Carlos' Spain witnessed several key political developments. First, in 1982 the electorate voted the Spanish Socialist Workers' party, headed by Felipe González, into power. Secondly, in the summer of 1985 the king made an official visit to France where he and President Mitterrand signed an historic accord pledging economic, political, and military cooperation between the two nations. Thirdly, on January 1, 1986, Spain entered the European Economic Community, a development that it hoped would aid the modernization of the Spanish economy and further stabilize the nation's political system. Fourthly, in March of 1986 Spanish voters went to the polls in a referendum and elected to remain in NATO, a position that the new socialist government favored because of the technological, economic, and political benefits to be gained from membership in the Atlantic alliance. Before the socialist victory in 1982 socialist leader González had opposed Spain's tie to NATO. Thus, Spain owes its re-entry into the European community and its return to democracy in large part to Juan Carlos' direction and moderation. On the morning of 2 June 2014, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made a televised announcement that the King had told him of his intention to abdicate.
Achievements
Juan Carlos I, proclaimed king of Spain, played an instrumental role in the transformation of his nation from a dictatorship to a constitutional monarchy.
Politics
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.
Membership
Member of the World Scout Foundation, member of the Sons of the American Revolution
Interests
Sport & Clubs
In 1972, Juan Carlos, a keen sailor, competed in the Dragon class event at the Olympic Games, finishing 15th. In their summer holidays, the whole family meets in Marivent Palace (Palma de Mallorca) and the Fortuna yacht, where they take part in sailing competitions. The king has manned the Bribón series of yachts. In winter, the family often go skiing in Baqueira-Beret and Candanchú (Pyrenees). At present, his hobbies include classic sailing boats.
Connections
Juan Carlos was married in Athens at the Church of Saint Dennis on 14 May 1962, to Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark, daughter of King Paul of Greece. They have two daughters and one son.
Father:
Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona
Mother:
María de las Mercedes de Borbón-Dos Sicilias y Orléans, Countess of Barcelona
Spouse:
Queen Sofía of Spain
Brother:
Infante Alfonso of Spain
grandmother:
Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
She was Queen of Spain.
Sister:
Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz
Sister:
Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria
Grandfather:
Alfonso XIII of Spain
He was King of Spain from 1886 until the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931.
Daughter:
Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo
Daughter:
Infanta Cristina of Spain
Son:
Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y de Grecia
