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Alfonso XIII
King of Spain (more...)
Reign	17 May 1886 – 14 April 1931 (1886-05-17 – 1931-04-14)
Enthronement	17 May 1902
Predecessor	Alfonso XII
Successor	Juan Carlos I
Regent	Maria Christina of Austria
Prime Ministers	Práxedes Mateo Sagasta .mw-parser-output .nobold{font-weight:normal} ... among others Antonio Cánovas Castillo Marcelo Azcárraga Francisco Silvela Raimundo Fernández Antonio Maura Marcelo Azcárraga Eugenio Montero Ríos Segismundo Moret José López Domínguez Antonio González Aguilar José Canalejas Manuel García Prieto Álvaro de Figueroa Eduardo Dato Joaquín Sánchez Toca Manuel Allendesalazar Gabino Bugallal José Sánchez Guerra Miguel Primo de Rivera Dámaso Berenguer Juan Bautista Aznar
Born	(1886-05-17)17 May 1886 Madrid, Kingdom of Spain
Died	28 February 1941(1941-02-28) (aged 54) Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Burial	3 March 1941 Santa María de Montserrat de los Españoles, Rome
Spouse	Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
Issue ... among others	Alfonso, Prince of Asturias Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia and Anjou Infanta Beatriz, Princess of Civitella-Cesi Infanta Maria Cristina, Countess Marone Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona Infante Gonzalo
Full name Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena
House	Bourbon
Father	Alfonso XII of Spain
Mother	Maria Christina of Austria
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941) was King of Spain from 1886 until the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931. Alfonso was monarch from birth as his father, Alfonso XII, had died the previous year. Alfonso's mother, Maria Christina of Austria, served as regent until he assumed full powers on his sixteenth birthday in 1902.

During Alfonso's reign Spain experienced four major problems that contributed to the end of the liberal monarchy: the lack of real political representation of broad social groups; the poor situation of the popular classes, especially peasants; problems arising from the Rif War; Catalan nationalism. This political and social turbulence that began with the Spanish–American War prevented the turnaround parties from establishing a true liberal democracy, which led to the establishment of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. With the political failure of the dictatorship, Alfonso impelled a return to the democratic normality with the intention of regenerating the regime. Nevertheless, it was abandoned by all political classes, as they felt betrayed by the king's support of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera.

He left Spain voluntarily after the municipal elections of April 1931, which were taken as a plebiscite between monarchy or republic.

Reign

Birth and regency

Alfonso and his mother, María Cristina, in 1898

Alfonso was born in Madrid on 17 May 1886. He was the posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, who had died in November 1885, and became King of Spain upon his birth. Just after he was born, he was carried naked to the Spanish prime minister on a silver tray.

Five days later he was carried in a solemn court procession with a golden fleece round his neck and was baptized with water specially brought from the River Jordan in Palestine.^[1] The French newspaper Le Figaro described the young king in 1889 as "the happiest and best-loved of all the rulers of the earth".^[2] His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, served as his regent until his 16th birthday. During the regency, in 1898, Spain lost its colonial rule over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the United States as a result of the Spanish–American War.

When he came of age in May 1902, the week of his majority was marked by festivities, bullfights, balls and receptions throughout Spain.^[3] He took his oath to the constitution before members of the Cortes on 17 May.

Engagement and marriage

The nine sovereigns at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII, photographed on 20 May 1910. Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of the Bulgarians, King Manuel II of Portugal and the Algarve, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Prussia, King George I of the Hellenes and King Albert I of the Belgians. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederick VIII of Denmark

By 1905, Alfonso was looking for a suitable consort. On a state visit to the United Kingdom, he stayed at Buckingham Palace with King Edward VII. There he met Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, the Scottish-born daughter of Edward's youngest sister Princess Beatrice, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. He found her attractive, and she returned his interest. There were obstacles to the marriage. Victoria was a Protestant, and would have to become a Catholic. Victoria's brother Leopold was a haemophiliac, so there was a 50 percent chance that Victoria was a carrier of the trait. Finally, Alfonso's mother Maria Christina wanted him to marry a member of her family, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine or some other Catholic princess, as she considered the Battenbergs to be non-dynastic.

Victoria was willing to change her religion, and her being a haemophilia carrier was only a possibility. Maria Christina was eventually persuaded to drop her opposition. In January 1906 she wrote an official letter to Princess Beatrice proposing the match. Victoria met Maria Christina and Alfonso in Biarritz, France, later that month, and converted to Catholicism in San Sebastián in March.

Photograph taken moments after the assassination attempt on Alfonso and Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg on their wedding day

In May, diplomats of both kingdoms officially executed the agreement of marriage. Alfonso and Victoria were married at the Royal Monastery of San Jerónimo in Madrid on 31 May 1906, with British royalty in attendance, including Victoria's cousins the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King George V and Queen Mary). The wedding was marked by an assassination attempt on Alfonso and Victoria by Catalan anarchist Mateu Morral. As the wedding procession returned to the palace, he threw a bomb from a window which killed or injured several bystanders and members of the procession.^[4]

On 10 May 1907, the couple's first child, Alfonso, Prince of Asturias, was born. However, Victoria was in fact a haemophilia carrier, and Alfonso inherited the condition.

Neither of the two daughters born to the King and Queen were haemophilia carriers, but another of their sons, Gonzalo (1914–1934), had the condition. Alfonso distanced himself from his Queen for transmitting the condition to their sons.^[5]

From 1914 on, he had several mistresses, and fathered five illegitimate children. A sixth illegitimate child had been born before his marriage.

Alfonso in uniform of Field marshal of the United Kingdom, 1928

World War I

During World War I, because of his family connections with both sides and the division of popular opinion, Spain remained neutral.^[6] The King established an office for assistance to prisoners of war on all sides. This office used the Spanish diplomatic and military network abroad to intercede for thousands of POWs – transmitting and receiving letters for them, and other services.^[7] The office was located in the Royal Palace.

Alfonso became gravely ill during the 1918 flu pandemic. Spain was neutral and thus under no wartime censorship restrictions, so his illness and subsequent recovery were reported to the world, while flu outbreaks in the belligerent countries were concealed. This gave the misleading impression that Spain was the most-affected area and led to the pandemic being dubbed "the Spanish Flu."^[8]

Rif War and Miguel Primo de Rivera

Alfonso (left) in 1930 with his dictatorial Prime Minister, Miguel Primo de Rivera

Following World War I, Spain entered the lengthy yet victorious Rif War (1920–1926) to preserve its colonial rule over northern Morocco. Critics of the monarchy thought the war was an unforgivable loss of money and lives, and nicknamed Alfonso el Africano ("the African").^[9] Alfonso had not acted as a strict constitutional monarch, and supported the Africanists who wanted to conquer for Spain a new empire in Africa to compensate for the lost empire in the Americas and Asia.^[10] The Rif War had starkly polarized Spanish society between the Africanists who wanted to conquer an empire in Africa vs. the abandonistas who wanted to abandon Morocco as not worth the blood and treasure.^[11] Alfonso liked to play favourites with his generals, and one of his most favored generals was Manuel Fernández Silvestre.^[12] In 1921, when Silvestre advanced up into the Rif mountains of Morocco, Alfonso sent him a telegram whose first line read "Hurrah for real men!", urging Silvestre not to retreat at a time when Silvestre was experiencing major difficulties.^[13] Silvestre stayed the course, leading his men into the Battle of Annual, one of Spain's worst defeats. Alfonso, who was on holiday in the south of France at the time, was informed of the "Disaster of the Annual" while he was playing golf. Reportedly, Alfonso's response to the news was to shrug his shoulders and say "Chicken meat is cheap", before resuming his game of golf.^[14] Alfonso remained in France and did not return to Spain to comfort the families of the soldiers lost at the "Disaster of the Annual", which many people at the time saw as a callous and cold act, a sign that the King couldn't care less about the lives of his soldiers. In 1922, the Cortes started an investigation into the responsibility for the Annual disaster and soon discovered evidence that the King had been one of the main supporters of Silvestre's advance into the Rif mountains.

After the "Disaster of the Annual", Spain's war in the Rif went from bad to worse, and as the Spanish were barely hanging onto Morocco, support for the abandonistas grew as many people could see no point to the war.^[11] In August 1923, Spanish soldiers embarking for Morocco mutinied, other soldiers in Malaga simply refused to board the ships that were to take them to Morocco, while in Barcelona huge crowds of left-wingers had staged anti-war protests at which Spanish flags were burned while the flag of the Rif Republic was waved about.^[11] With the Africanists comprising only a minority, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the abandonistas forced the Spanish to give up on the Rif, which was part of the reason for the military coup d'état later in 1923.^[11] On September 13, 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera, seized power in a military coup. He ruled as a dictator with Alfonso's support until 1930. It is believed that one of Alfonso's main reasons for supporting the coup was his desire to suppress the publication of the damning Cortes report into the Annual disaster. The poetic Generation of '27 as well as Catalan and Basque nationalism grew in this era.

Downfall and Second Republic

In January 1930, due to economic problems and general unpopularity, Miguel Primo de Rivera resigned as Prime Minister. Alfonso, as the Prime Minister's ally, shared the popular dislike. The King had so closely associated with the Primo de Rivera dictatorship that it was difficult for him to distance himself from the regime he had supported for almost seven years. In April 1931, General José Sanjurjo told him even the army was not loyal. On 12 April, the republican parties won a landslide victory in municipal elections. The municipal elections were fought as a virtual referendum on the future of the monarchy. Alfonso fled the country on 14 April as the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed, but did not formally abdicate. He eventually settled in Rome.

By a law of 26 November 1931, Alfonso was accused by the Cortes of high treason.^[15] This law would later be repealed by a new law dated 15 December 1938, signed by Francisco Franco.^[16]

Exile

In 1933, his two eldest sons, Alfonso and Jaime, renounced their claims to the throne, and in 1934 his youngest son Gonzalo died. This left his third son Juan, Count of Barcelona his only male heir. Juan later was the father of Juan Carlos I.

Civil War

When the Army rose up against the democratically elected Republican Government,^[17] war broke out, Alfonso made it clear he favoured the "Nationalist" military rebels against the Republic. But in September 1936 the Nationalist leader, General Francisco Franco, declared that the Nationalists would not restore Alfonso as king. (The Nationalist army included many Carlist supporters of a rival pretender.)

Nevertheless, he sent his son Juan to Spain in 1936, to participate in the uprising. However, General Mola had Juan arrested near the French border and expelled from the country.

On 29 September 1936, upon the death of Infante Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime (the Carlist pretender), Alfonso also became the senior heir of Hugh Capet and so was hailed by some French legitimists as King Alphonse I of France and Navarre.

Renunciation of claims to the throne and death

On 15 January 1941, Alfonso XIII abdicated his rights to the vacant Spanish throne in favour of Juan. He died in Rome on 28 February of that year.

In Spain, the caudillo Franco ordered three days of national mourning.^[18] His funeral was held in Rome in the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. Alfonso was buried in the Church of Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli, the Spanish national church in Rome, immediately below the tombs of Pope Callixtus III and Pope Alexander VI.^[19] In January 1980 his remains were transferred to El Escorial in Spain.^[20]

Legacy

Madrid's Hotel Palace was built on Alfonso's wishes in 1912

Alfonso was a promoter of tourism in Spain. The need for the lodging of his wedding guests prompted the construction of the luxury Hotel Palace in Madrid. He also supported the creation of a network of state-run lodges (Parador) in historic buildings of Spain. His fondness for the sport of football led to the patronage of several "Royal" ("Real" in Spanish) football clubs, the first being Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña in 1907.^[21] Selected others include Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Real Betis, Real Unión, Espanyol and Real Zaragoza.

An avenue in the northern Madrid neighbourhood of Chamartín, Avenida de Alfonso XIII, is named after him. A plaza or town center in Iloilo City, Philippines (now Plaza Libertad) was named in his honour called Plaza Alfonso XIII.^[22] A street in Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales, was built especially to house Spanish immigrants in the mining industry and named Alphonso Street after Alfonso XIII.^[23]

Alfonso XIII appears as "King Buby" in Luis Coloma's story of Ratoncito Pérez (1894), which was written for the King when he was 8 years old. The story of Ratoncito Pérez has been adapted into further literary works and movies since then, with the character of Alfonso XIII appearing in some. Alfonso XIII is also mentioned on the plaque to Ratoncito Pérez on the second floor of "la calle del Arenal".

Marriage and children

On 31 May 1906, Alfonso married Scottish-born Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (1887–1969). Only entitled to the style of Serene Highness by birth, Ena, as she was known, was granted the higher honorific of Royal Highness one month before her wedding.

Alfonso and Ena had six surviving children:

Alfonso and Queen Victoria Eugenie with their children at Santander's Palacio de la Magdalena. Standing, from left to right: Infanta María Cristina, the Prince of Asturias and Infanta Beatriz. Seated, from left to right: Infante Jaime, the Queen, the King, Infante Gonzalo and Infante Juan seated on ground

Illegitimate issue

Alfonso also had six known illegitimate children:

By French aristocrat Mélanie de Gaufridy de Dortan (1876–1937), married to Philippe de Vilmorin, he had

• Roger Marie Vincent Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin (12 September 1905 – 20 July 1980)^[24][25]
  

By Pauline of Saint Glen, he had

• Charles Maxime Victor of Saint Glen (3 July 1914 – 20 May 1934).

By Béatrice Noon, he had

• Juana Alfonsa Milán y Quiñones de León (19 April 1916 – 16 May 2005)

By Spanish actress María del Carmen Ruiz y Moragas (1898–1936):

• Ana María Teresa Ruiz y Moragas (9 October 1925 – 6 September 1965)


• Leandro Alfonso Luis Ruiz y Moragas (26 April 1929 – 18 June 2016), officially recognized by Spanish Courts on 21 May 2003 as Leandro Alfonso Luis de Borbón y Ruiz Moragas
  

By Marie Sousa, he had

• Alonso of Borbon Sousa (28 December 1930 – 30 April 1934).

Heraldry

• Heraldry of Alfonso XIII of Spain


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  Coat of arms of Alfonso XIII
  (1886–1931)^[26][27]

  
  

  
  


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  Coat of arms of Alfonso XIII
  (1931)^[27][28]

  
  

  
  


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  Coat of arms of Alfonso XIII with royal supporters
  (1931)^[29]

  
  

  
  

Royal Monogram

Honours

Spanish honours

• 1,072nd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1886^[30]
  


• 
  Maestranza de caballería (Royal Cavalry Armory) de Ronda, Sevilla, Granada, Valencia y Zaragoza


• 
  Order of Charles III^[31]
  


• 
  Order of Santiago^[32]
  


• 
  Order of Calatrava^[33]
  


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  Order of Alcántara^[34]
  


• 
  Order of Montesa^[35]
  

Foreign honours

• 
   Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen of Hungary – 1900^[36]
  


• 
   Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold – 1902^[37]
  


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   Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant – 20 July 1901^[38][39]
  


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   German Empire: Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle^[38]
  
  
  • 
     Bavaria: Knight of the Order of St. Hubert^[38]
    
  
  
  • 
     Saxony: Knight of the Order of the Rue Crown^[38]
    
  
  
  
  


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   Kingdom of Italy: Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation – 1900^[38]
  • 
     Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion^[38]
    
  
  


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   Empire of Japan: Order of the Chrysanthemum – 1930 – Emperor Hirohito's second brother, Prince Takamatsu, travelled to Madrid to confer the Great Collar of the Chrysanthemum on King Alfonso. This honour was intended, in part, to commemorate the diplomatic and trading history which existed long before other Western nations were officially aware of Japan's existence. Prince Takamatsu travelled with his wife, Princess Takamatsu, to Spain. Her symbolic role in this unique mission to the Spanish Court was intended to emphasize the international links which were forged by her 16th-century ancestor, Ieyasu Tokugawa. In the years before the Tokugawa shogunate, that innovative daimyō from Western Japan had been actively involved in negotiating trade and diplomatic treaties with Spain and with the colonies of New Spain (Mexico) and the Philippines; and it was anticipated that the mere presence of the Princess could serve to underscore the range of possibilities which could be inferred from that little-known history.^[40]
  


• 
  Persia: Order of the Aqdas – 16 May 1902 – The King received the Persian order in a special ceremony during his enthronement festivities.^[41]
  


• 
   Kingdom of Portugal: 315th Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword – 1900^[42]
  


• 
   Russian Empire: Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called – 1902 – During his enthronement festivities.^[38]
  


• 
   Sweden: Knight of the Order of the Seraphim – 16 May 1902 – King Oscar II of Sweden sent his youngest son, Prince Prince Eugen to represent him at the festivities marking the King's enthronement, and he invested the King as a Knight in a special ceremony on 16 May 1902.^[41]
  


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   United Kingdom:
  
  
  
  • Honorary Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order – 28 July 1897^[43]
    
  
  
  • 815th Knight of the Order of the Garter – 16 May 1902 – King Edward VII's brother, the Duke of Connaught attended the festivities marking the King's enthronement, and invested him as a Knight in a special ceremony on 16 May 1902.^[41][44]
    
  
  
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    Royal Victorian Chain – 9 June 1905^[45]
    
  
  
  
  

In the Royal Library of Madrid, there are many books with different emblems and super libros of the king.^[46]

Ancestry

See also

• 1902 Copa de la Coronación

References

Bibliography

• 
  Barry, John M. (2004). The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History. Viking Penguin. ISBN 0-670-89473-7.
  


• 
  Churchill, Sir Winston. Great Contemporaries. London: T. Butterworth, 1937. Contains the most famous single account of Alfonso in the English language. The author, writing shortly after the Spanish Civil War began, retained considerable fondness for the ex-sovereign.


• Collier, William Miller. At the Court of His Catholic Majesty. Chicago: McClurg, 1912. The author was American ambassador to Spain from 1905 to 1909.


• Noel, Gerard. Ena: Spain's English Queen. London: Constable, 1984. Considerably more candid than Petrie about Alfonso, the private man, and about the miseries the royal family experienced because of their haemophiliac children.


• 
  Nuttall, Zelia (1906). The earliest historical relations between Mexico and Japan: from original documents preserved in Spain and Japan. The University Press.
  


• 
  Petrie, Sir Charles. King Alfonso XIII and His Age. London: Chapman & Hall, 1963. Written as it was during Queen Ena's lifetime, this book necessarily omits the King's extramarital affairs; but it remains a useful biography, not least because the author knew Alfonso quite well, interviewed him at considerable length, and relates him to the wider Spanish intellectual culture of his time.


• Pilapil, Vicente R. Alfonso XIII. Twayne's rulers and statesmen of the world series 12. New York: Twayne, 1969.


• Sencourt, Robert. King Alfonso: A Biography. London: Faber, 1942.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alfonso XIII of Spain.

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  Historiaantiqua. Alfonso XIII; (in Spanish) (2008)


• Visit by Alphonso XIII to Deauville in 1922 (with images)


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  Newspaper clippings about Alfonso XIII of Spain in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics (ZBW)