King of Spain June 2nd, 2009

    Juan Carlos I is the current reigning King of Spain. His grandfather Alfonso XIII was King prior to him, and his father, the late Infante Juan was the Count of Barcelona. Tourists saying in five star Barcelona hotels should encounter one of the city’s memorials to the late count. Juan Carlos I was born in Rome, Italy in 1938. King Alfonso XIII and other members of the family had settled in Italy after the 1931 proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. One of his most significant contributions to the country was to oversee the transition from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy. He has an extremely high approval rating in the country and in 2008 he was declared the most popular leader in Ibero-America. Ibero-American refers loosely to the countries of the Americas that were formerly colonies of Spain or Portugal.

    During the Spanish Civil War the regime of Francisco Franco came into power. Franco’s rise to power left the Spanish throne vacant for thirty years. However, he agreed that upon his death, the monarchy would be restored. The actual heir to the throne was King Alfonso XIII son Juan de Borbon. However, Franco was extremely suspicious of him, and believed him to be too liberal and opposed to the current regime. Finally, in 1969 Franco decided to skip a generation and declared Juan Carlos to be his successor. He had extreme hopes that Carlos would continue the conservative nature of the ruling powers and maintain the social status Franco had created. He demanded, as a condition of his heir-apparent status that Carlos swear his loyalty to Franco’s Movimiento Nacional. However, once Carlos assumed the throne he immediately began instituting reforms, which greatly displeased the conservatives. They had expected him to maintain an authoritarian state instead paving the path to the parliamentary democracy it is today. Barcelona and the rest of Spain reflect this change in government leadership and the country is much more attractive to tourists because of it.

    Related posts:

    1. Madrid’s Carmen Maura
    2. Beaches, Resorts and Royalty
    3. The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art
    4. Changing Times for Majorca
    5. Museums in Madrid

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