Infante Gonzalo of Spain
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Infante Gonzalo of Spain (24 October 1914 - 13 August 1934) was the fourth surviving son and youngest child of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and his wife Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg.
Gonzalo was born at Madrid. He was baptised with the names Gonzalo Manuel Maria Bernardo Narciso Alfonso Mauricio. He received his final name in honor of his uncle, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, who was killed in World War One shortly before Gonzalo's baptism. The infante was educated privately. Because he inherited haemophilia from his mother's family (a fact not widely known in Spain during his life), he suffered some ill health, although he was an active sportsman. He held the rank of a private in the Engineering Corps of the Spanish Army. In 1927 he was made a knight of the Spanish branch of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
On 14 April 1931 Gonzalo accompanied his mother into exile. He studied engineering at the Catholic University of Leuven, instead of at the University of Madrid as originally planned for him.
In August 1934 Gonzalo was spending the summer holidays with his family at the villa of Count Ladislaus Hoyos at Pörtschach am Wörthersee in Austria. On the evening of 11 August, Gonzalo and his sister Infanta Beatriz were driving from Klagenfurt to Pörtschach. Near Krumpendorf, Beatriz, who was driving, was forced to swerve to avoid a cyclist (the retired jockey Baron Neimans). The car crashed into a wall. Neither Gonzalo nor Beatriz appeared badly hurt, and so they returned to their villa. Several hours later it became clear that Gonzalo had severe abdominal bleeding. Because he had a weak heart, an operation was ruled out. He died two days later.
Gonzalo was buried in the graveyard at Pörtschach. Later his body was moved to the Pantheon of the Princes in El Escorial.
[edit] Ancestry
[edit] Bibliography
- "Auto Crash Fatal to Spanish Prince", The New York Times (August 14, 1934): 7.
- "Spain to Honor Infante", The New York Times (August 14, 1934): 7.
- "Funeral Rites Today for Spanish Prince", The New York Times (August 15, 1934): 17.
- "Don Gonzalo Buried in an Austrian Grave", The New York Times (August 16, 1934): 17.
- "Spanish Prince Killed", The Times (August 14, 1934): 12.
- "Regret in Madrid", The Times (August 14, 1934): 12.
- "The Infante Gonzalo", The Times (August 14, 1934): 13.
- "The Late Infante Don Gonzalo", The Times (August 16, 1934): 9.
