King Alfonso XIII of Spain
King Alfonso XIII of Spain was the Spanish sovereign from his birth on May 17, 1886 until the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic on April 14, 1931. He was born Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena, the son of the late and . Because his father had died before his birth, his mother served as Regent while awaiting his birth. She would remain Regent until Alfonso turned 16 and took control of the monarchy. He had two older sisters:
While on a State Visit to the United Kingdom in 1905, King Alfonso met , the daughter of and (the youngest daughter of ). The two soon began corresponding and developed quite strong feelings for each other. However, there were several obstacles in their relationship that would need to be resolved before they could consider marriage. The first issue was religion. Alfonso was Catholic while Victoria Eugenie was Protestant. The second issue was the potential of bringing hemophilia into the Spanish royal family. As Victoria Eugenie’s brother suffered from the disease, there was a very good chance that Victoria Eugenie herself was a carrier. And the third obstacle was Alfonso’s mother, the Dowager Queen. She did not feel the Battenbergs were royal enough (due to the morganatic marriage which started that family), and wanted her son to marry a member of the Habsburg dynasty of Austria. Eventually all three obstacles were overcome. Victoria Eugenie (known as Ena) agreed to convert toCatholicism, and despite the risk of hemophilia, Alfonso still chose to marry her. Her uncle, , raised her style to Royal Highness, so as to remove any question of the marriage being equal.
The couple married on May 31, 1906, at the in Madrid, in a wedding attended by many royals from around the world. The marriage was not, however, without incident. While the wedding procession was returning to the Royal Palace, an assassination attempt was made on the King and his new Queen. Both Alfonso and Ena were unharmed, however several guards and bystanders were killed or injured. Eventually, the couple would have seven children:
Alfonso and Ena’s marriage was strained from the birth of their first son, Alfonso. Shortly after his birth, it was discovered that he was suffering from hemophilia. Of their children, only their oldest and youngest had the disease. Despite knowing the possible risk before they married, King Alfonso blamed Ena for bringing the disease into the royal family, and distanced himself from her. He had several mistresses and fathered at least 6 illegitimate children.
In 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera seized power in a military coup, with the support of King Alfonso. He named him Prime Minister and served as dictator for the next seven years. In 1930, after falling from grace with the King, and losing much of his public support, Primo de Rivera resigned. Having been an ally for most of that time, the King also suffered a huge lack of support from the Spanish people. In 1931, elections were held, resulting in the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. Alfonso and his family fled Spain, settling in France and then Italy.
Soon after going into exile, King Alfonso and Queen Victoria Eugenie went their separate ways. He remained in Rome, while the Queen settled in Switzerland. On January 15, 1941, feeling that his life was coming to an end, Alfonso formally abdicated in favor of his third son, Juan, Count of Barcelona. (His two older sons had both renounced their claims to the throne in the early 1930s.) Just weeks later, on February 28, 1941, King Alfonso XIII died at the Grand Hotel in Rome. He was just 54 years old. His funeral was held at the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome, and he was buried at the Church of Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli, the Spanish national church in the city. In 1980, his remains were returned to Spain and interred in the Pantheon of Kings in the .
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