Juan Carlos I

Juan Carlos of Spain was born to the Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona and the Princess María Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in Rome, Italy, where his grandfather, King Alfonso XIII and other members of the Spanish royal family had settled following the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931.

His early life was dictated largely by the political concerns of his father and General Franco.The dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco had come to power during the Spanish Civil War.After the war, Franco headed a regime with himself as head of state for life.

Franco agreed that his successor would be a monarch, and had no intention of restoring the constitutional form of monarchy known during the 19th Century or the republican form of government created by the Spanish Constitution of 1931.

The heir to the throne of Spain was Juan de Borbón (Count of Barcelona), the son of the late Alfonso XIII, father of and Juan Carlos I. Ultimately, Franco decided to skip a generation and name Prince Juan Carlos as his personal successor.

Near death, on 30 October 1975, Franco gave full control to Juan Carlos. On 22 November, following Franco's death, the Cortes Generales proclaimed Juan Carlos King of Spain and on 27 November, Juan Carlos was anointed king in a ceremony called Holy Spirit Mass, which was the equivalent of a coronation.

On 15 June 1977, Spain held its first post-Franco democratic elections. In 1978, a new Constitution was promulgated.

Further legitimacy had been restored to Juan Carlos´ position on 14 May 1977, when his father, Don Juan (whom many monarchists had recognized as the legitimate, exiled King of Spain during the Franco era), formally renounced his claim to the Throne and recognized his son as the sole head of the Spanish Royal House.

An attempted military coup, known as 23-F, occurred on 23 February 1981.When Juan Carlos became king, Communist leader Santiago Carrillo nicknamed him Juan Carlos the Brief, predicting that the monarchy would soon be swept away with the other remnants of the Franco era. After the collapse of the attempted coup, however, in an emotional statement, Carrillo told television viewers: "God save the king." The Communist leader also remarked: "Today, we are all monarchists."

In 1972, Juan Carlos, a keen sailor, competed in the Dragon class event at the Olympic Games, though he did not win any medals.

The king has manned the Bribón series of yachts. In winter, they usually go skiing, where the king has occasionally ended with a broken leg.

Juan Carlos and Sophia are fluent in several languages. They both speak Spanish, English, and French. The king speaks fluent Italian, Arabic, Romanian and Portuguese. Unlike the queen, Juan Carlos does not speak German, nor her native language, Greek, a fact he regrets.

Juan Carlos is an amateur radio operator and holds the call sign EA0JC. His fondness of incognito motorbike riding has raised urban legends of people finding him on lonely roads.

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