Alfonso XIII of Spain
| Alfonso XIII | |
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| Reign | 17 May 1886 - 14 April 1931 (44 years, 332 days) |
| Predecessor | Alfonso XII |
| Successor | Juan Carlos I |
| Spouse | Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg |
| Issue | |
| Roger Marie Vincent Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin Alfonso, Prince of Asturias Jaime, Duke of Segovia Beatriz, Princess of Civitela-Cesi Infanta Maria Christina, Countess of Marone Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona Infante Gonzalo Juana Alfonsa Milán y Quiñones de León Ana María Teresa Ruíz y Moragas Leandro Alfonso Luis Ruíz y Moragas |
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| House | House of Bourbon |
| Father | Alfonso XII of Spain |
| Mother | Maria Christina of Austria |
| Born | 17 May 1886 Madrid, Spain |
| Died | 28 February 1941 (aged 54) Rome, Italy |
| Burial | El Escorial |
Alfonso XIII (Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Austria-Lorena; anglicised: Alphonse Leon Ferdinand Mary James Isidor Pascal Anthony of Bourbon and Austria-Lorraine) (Madrid, 17 May 1886 – Rome, 28 February 1941), King of Spain, posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, was proclaimed King at his birth. He reigned from 1886-1931. His mother, Queen Maria Christina, was appointed regent during his minority. In 1902, on attaining his 16th year, the King assumed control of the state.
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Reign
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Alfonso's reign began well. The French newspaper Le Figaro described the young King as "the happiest and best-loved of all the rulers of the earth".[1]
When he came of age in 1902, the week of his majority was marked by festivities, bullfights, balls and receptions throughout Spain.[2]
During his reign, Spain lost its last colonies in the Americas (Cuba and Puerto Rico) and the Philippines; fought and, after several setbacks, won a war in Morocco; witnessed the start of the Spanish Generation of 1927, and endured the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, which ultimately cost him the throne.
During the First World War, because of his family connections with both sides and the division of popular opinion, Spain remained neutral. The King ran an office for captives from the Palacio de Oriente, which leveraged the Spanish diplomatic and military network abroad to intercede for thousands of prisoners-of-war, receiving and answering letters from Europe. However, he became gravely ill during the 1918 flu pandemic and, since Spain was neutral and thus under no wartime censorship restrictions, his illness and subsequent recovery were covered worldwide, giving the false impression (in the absence of real news from anywhere else) that Spain was the most-affected area. This ultimately led to the pandemic getting the nickname "the Spanish Flu."[3]
Alfonso was a promoter of tourism in Spain. The problems with 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 such as Real Sociedad, Real Madrid, Real Betis, and Real Unión.
When the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, he fled and left Spain, but did not abdicate the throne. He settled eventually in Rome where he lived in the Grand Hotel.
Once the Spanish Civil War broke out, Alfonso made it clear he favoured the military uprising against the Popular Front government, but General Francisco Franco in September 1936 declared that the Nationalists would never accept Alfonso as King (the supporters of the rival Carlist pretender made up an important part of the Franco Army). First, he went into exile in France. Nevertheless, he sent his son, Juan de Borbon, Count of Barcelona, to enter Spain in 1936 and participate in the uprising. However, near the French border, General Mola had him arrested and expelled from the country.
On 15 January 1941, Alfonso XIII abdicated his rights to the Spanish throne in favour of his third (of four), but second-surviving, son Juan, father of the current King, Juan Carlos. He died in Rome a month-and-a-half later.
The Spanish Government ordered three days of national mourning.[4] His funeral was held in Rome in the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. He was buried in the Church of Santa Maria in Monserrato, the Spanish national church in Rome, immediately below the tombs of Pope Calixtus III and Pope Alexander VI.[5] In January 1980 his remains were transferred to El Escorial in Spain.[6]
Marriage and children
On 31 May 1906, at the Royal Monastery of San Geronimo in Madrid, Alfonso married Scottish-born Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (1887–1969), a niece of King Edward VII of Great Britain, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. A Serene Highness by birth, Ena, as she was known, was raised to Royal Highness status a month before her wedding to prevent the union from being viewed as unequal.
As Alfonso XIII and Ena were returning from the wedding, they narrowly escaped an assassination attempted by the anarchist Mateu Morral; instead, the bomb explosion killed or injured many bystanders and members of the Royal procession.
Alfonso and Ena had seven children:
- Infante Alfonso Pio Cristino Eduardo Francisco Guillermo Carlos Enrique Fernando Antonio Venancio of Spain, Prince of Asturias (1907–1938), a hemophiliac, he renounced his rights to the throne in 1933 to marry a commoner, Edelmira Ignacia Adriana Sampedro-Robato, and became Count of Covadonga. He later remarried to Marta Esther Rocafort y Altazarra, but had no issue by either of them.
- Infante Jaime Luitpold Isabelino Enrique Alberto Alfonso Victor Acacio Pedro Maria of Spain (1908–1975), a deaf-mute as the result of a childhood operation, he renounced his rights to the throne in 1933 and became Duke of Segovia, and later Duke of Madrid, and who, as a legitimist pretender to the French throne from 1941 to 1975, was known as the Duke of Anjou.
- Infanta Beatríz Isabela Federica Alfonsa Eugenia Cristina Maria Teresa Bienvenida Ladisláa of Spain (1909–2002), who married Don Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi.
- Infante Fernando, stillborn (1910)
- Infanta Maria Cristina Teresa Alejandra Guadalupe Maria de la Concepción Vittoria Eugenia of Spain (1911–1996), who married Enrico Eugenio Marone-Cinzano, 1st Conte di Marone.
- Infante Juan Carlos Teresa Silvestre Alfonso of Spain (1913–1993), named heir to the throne and Count of Barcelona, whose son is the current King, Juan Carlos I of Spain.
- Infante Gonzalo Manuel Maria Bernardo Narciso Alfonso Mauricio of Spain (1914–1934), a hemophiliac, like his elder brother Alfonso. He died due to bleeding from injuries suffered in a car crash.
Illegitimate issue
The King also had four illegitimate children:
By French aristocrat Mélanie de Gaufridy de Dortan (Dompierre-les-Ormes, 31 August 1876 - Paris, 23 October 1937), daughter of Roger de Gaufridy de Dortan (1843–1905) and wife Adélaïde de Verdonnet (1853–1918), married on 7 July 1900 to Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin (Verrières-le-Buisson, 21 May 1872 - Verrières-le-Buisson, 29 June 1917), by whom she had two daughters and two sons (Marie Lévêque de Vilmorin, married to Guy de Toulouse-Lautrec, Comte de Toulouse-Lautrec and a relative of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, without issue, Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin (Verrières-le-Buisson, 4 April 1902 – 26 December 1969), married firstly in Paris on 12 March 1925 to Henry Leigh-Hunt (Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa, 17 October 1886 - Neuilly, 21 March 1972), and had issue, and married secondly in Bratislava on 27 January 1938 as his fifth of eight wives to Pál Gróf Erdödi Pálffy (Vienna, 12 February 1890 - Untergiesing-Harlaching, 11 October 1968), without issue; Olivier Lévêque de Vilmorin, and André Lévêque de Vilmorin; despite the resemblances of Louise with Alfonso XIII and even his also illegitimate half-sister Ana María Teresa, she was never claimed to be his daughter):
- Roger Marie Vincent Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin (Verrières-le-Buisson, 12 September 1905 - Paris, 20 July 1980), married in Nice on 16 January 1926 to Pauline Roissard de Bellet (Paris, 31 March 1892 - bef. 1945), daughter of Jean Baron Roissard de Bellet and wife Elizabeth Prodgers, and had issue, and married secondly in Paris on 12 February 1945 as her second husband Edith Alice Cecile Lowther (London, 2 August 1906 - ?), daughter of the 1st Baronets Lowther, and had issue:
- Nicolas Lévêque de Vilmorin (b. 21 August 1928), married to Irène Thenard, without issue
- Jean-Baptiste Lévêque de Vilmorin (b. Paris, 11 January 1930), married firstly and divorced as her second husband to Geneviève Fontenay (Oran, 21 November 1930 - Saint-Paul, 14 April 1987), already divorced from her first husband, daughter of Roger Fontenay and wife Germaine Martin, who married thirdly François Giscard d'Estaing uncle of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and later husband of ... Cazin d' Honincthun, without issue, and married secondly to Monique Latil, without issue
- Elisabeth Lévêque de Vilmorin (b. Paris, 11 January 1930), married to Arnaud Baron de Lassus, without issue
- Sophie Lévêque de Vilmorin (b. 22 January 1931), married to Robert Miles-Reincke, without issue
- Claire Lévêque de Vilmorin (b. 20 August 1933), unmarried and without issue
- Eleonore Lévêque de Vilmorin (b. Neuilly-sur-Seine, 28 February 1947), married firstly in Verrières-le-Buisson on 12 April 1972 and divorced Guy-Raoul Marie Jacques de Dampierre (b. Saint-Mandé, 5 January 1938), without issue (he later married Ismène de Saint-Anthost and had a son Matthias de Dampierre, b. 1982), and married secondly in Paris on 3 May 1980 her first husband's cousin Aymeric de Dampierre (b. Paris, 12 January 1947), without issue
- Philippa Victoire Lévêque de Vilmorín (b. Boulogne-Billancourt, 11 November 1948), unmarried and without issue
By Spanish actress María del Carmen Ruíz y Moragas (1898 - Madrid, 11 June 1936), married in Granada on 18 November 1917 to Rodolfo Gaona y Jiménez (León de Las Aldamas, Guanajuato, 22 January 1888 - Mexico City, 20 May 1975), without issue, and daughter of Leandro Antolín Ruíz y Martínez, born in Almadén, and wife María de las Mercedes Moragas y Pareja, born in Málaga:
- Ana María Teresa Ruíz y Moragas (Madrid, 9 October 1925 - Florence, 6 September 1965), married in Madrid on 26 October 1957 Arnoldo Bürgisser y Hufenus (Florence, 9 January 1927 - Florence, 21 December 1993), son of Louis Bürgisser and wife Agnèse Hufenus, and had issue:
- Leandro Alfonso Luis Ruíz y Moragas (b. Madrid, 26 April 1929), officially recognized by Spanish Courts on 21 May 2003 as Leandro Alfonso Luis de Borbón y Ruíz Moragas, married firstly in June 1952 to María del Rosario Vidal y de Barnola (- 1992), daughter of Eduardo Vidal y ... and wife ... de Barnola y ..., and had issue, and married secondly in 1982 to María de la Concepción de Mora y ..., daughter of Manuel de Mora y ... (- Madrid, 1971), and wife ..., and had issue:
- María Cristina de Borbón y Vidal (b. 1953), married to ... Tejón y ..., and had issue:
- Juan Tejón y de Borbón (b. 1977)
- Javier Tejón y de Borbón (b. 1981)
- Pilar Tejón y de Borbón (b. 1984)
- Alfonso de Borbón y Vidal (Madrid, 1955–2000), married in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on 6 May 2000 to ..., without issue
- María Blanca de Borbón y Vidal (b. Madrid, 1956), married to Jesús Mateos y Morillo, and had issue:
- Pablo Mateos y de Borbón (b. 2000)
- Eduardo de Borbón y Vidal (b. 1956), married to ... Garde y ..., and had issue:
- Almudena de Borbón y Garde (b. 1985)
- Eduardo de Borbón y Garde (b. 1992)
- María Luisa de Borbón y Vidal (1957-1959 - 1961)
- María de las Mercedes de Borbón y Vidal (b. Madrid, 1960), married to Luis de Sautú y Acha, without issue
- María Cristina de Borbón y Vidal (b. 1953), married to ... Tejón y ..., and had issue:
By Béatrice Noon:
- Juana Alfonsa Milán y Quiñones de León (Paris, 19 April 1916 - Madrid, 16 May 2005), and had issue by an unknown father, three sons and one daughter:
- ... Milán y Quiñones de León
- ... Milán y Quiñones de León
- Pierre Milán y Quiñones de León
- María de la Soledad Milán y Quiñones de León
Honours
- 1,072nd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1886[7]
- Order of Charles III[8]
- Order of Santiago[9]
- Order of Calatrava[10]
- Order of Alcántara[11]
- Order of Montesa[12]
- 315th Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword in 1900
- 815th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1902
- Order of the Chrysanthemum, 1930: Emperor Showa's second brother, Prince Takamatsu, traveled to Madrid to confer the Great Collar of the Chrysanthemum on King Alfonso. This honor 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 traveled 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 daimyo 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.[13]
Ancestry
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References
- ↑ "The Happiest Living Monarch," New York Times. 14 August 1889.
- ↑ "Alfonso's Reign Begins on 17 May; He Will Take the Oath on That Day -- Festivities to Last a Week," New York Times, 29 March 1902.
- ↑ Barry 171.
- ↑ "Mourning in Spain", The Times (3 March 1941): 3.
- ↑ "Italians to Mourn Death of Alfonso," The New York Times. 2 March 1931.
- ↑ "21 Guns for Dead King's Homecoming", The Times (21 January 1980): 4.
- ↑ Collier, William Miller. (1912). At the Court of His Catholic Majesty, pp.35-36; Order of the Golden Fleece.
- ↑ Miller, pp. 37-38; Orden de Carlos III (in Spanish).
- ↑ Miller, pp. 39-39; Order of Santiago.
- ↑ Miller, pp. 39-39; Order of Calatrava.
- ↑ Miller, pp. 39-39; Order of Alcántara.
- ↑ Miller, pp. 39-39; Order of Montesa.
- ↑ "Japan to Decorate King Alfonso Today; Emperor's Brother Nears Madrid With Collar of the Chrysanthemum for Spanish King," New York Times, 3 November 1930; see also Nutail, Zelia. (1906). The Earliest Historical Relations Between Mexico and Japan, p. 2.
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, 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, 1985. Considerably more candid than Petrie about Alfonso the private man, and about the miseries the royal family experienced because of their hemophiliac children.
- Nutail, Zelia. (1906). The Earliest Historical Relations Between Mexico and Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press....Link to digitized version from the collection of Harvard University
- Petrie, 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 Spanish 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
- Royal House of Spain
- Princely House of Battenberg
- Historiaantiqua. Alfonso XIII; (Spanish) (2008)
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Alfonso XIII of Spain
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 17 May 1886 Died: 28 February 1941 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Vacant
Title last held by
Alfonso XII |
King of Spain 17 May 1886 – 14 April 1931 with Maria Christina of Austria (1886–1902) |
Vacant
Title next held by
Juan Carlos I |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Maria Christina of Austria as Queen regent of Spain |
Head of State of Spain as King 17 May 1886 –14 April 1931 |
Succeeded by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora as President of Spain |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Loss of title | — TITULAR — King of Spain 14 April 1931 – 15 January 1941 |
Succeeded by Juan III |
| Preceded by Alphonse II |
— TITULAR — King of France and Navarre 29 September 1936 – 28 February 1941 Reason for succession failure: Bourbon monarchy deposed in 1830 |
Succeeded by Jacques II |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by Dwight F. Davis |
Cover of Time Magazine 22 December 1924 |
Succeeded by Charles Evans Hughes |
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