Late Years of the Spanish Monarchy, Pablo Castaño (Le Monde Diplomatique)

W.hen King Juan Carlos broke his hip during an all-expenses-paid hunting trip to Botswana in 2012 and accused German business consultant Corinna Larsen (who later took him to court for harassment). relationship became clear. His image as a monarch close to his people has been tarnished as Spain faces its worst recession in history and the European Commission threatens to bring the economy under scrutiny. Discharged from the hospital that April, he said, “I made a mistake. It won’t happen again.”

It was the beginning of the Spanish monarchy’s worst crisis since its revival in 1975, when General Franco died and his successor, Juan Carlos, became head of state. The new king agreed to a constitutional monarchy, avoiding a referendum on whether Spain would become a republic. Later, an attempted coup on February 23, 1981 partially compensated for its lack of democratic legitimacy. At this time, a group of Civil Guard officers stormed the House of Representatives (House of Representatives), and troops occupied Valencia.

Officially, the king foiled the coup by disowning its leader, General Alfonso Armada, and urging senior soldiers not to join the rebellion. That night he was on television denouncing the coup and wearing the uniform of a general (the monarch is an honorary commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces). The next day, the House of Representatives was liberated without violence and the rebels were imprisoned.

However, Juan Carlos had a close relationship with Armada, who was the royal secretary-general. He was aware of plans to hand over power to the Armada, which was expected to take a tougher stance against the Basque separatist organization ETA, as well as the main political parties in Spain. It is unclear to what extent they approved it or how familiar they were with its details.Most were guided by (…)

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