, first viceroy of Portuguese India]]

A Viceroy () is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province (or state) in the name of and as representative of the Monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. His province or larger territory is called a Viceroyalty. The adjective form is viceregal, less often viceroyal. A Vicereine is a woman in a viceregal position, or a viceroy's wife.

Spanish Empire

The title was originally used by the Aragonese Crown, where beginning in the 14th century it referred to the governors of Sardinia and Corsica. The absolutist Kings of Spain came to appoint numerous viceroys to rule over various parts of their vast Spanish Empire in Europe, the Americas, and overseas elsewhere.

In Europe

In Europe, until the 18th century the Spanish crown appointed viceroys of Aragon, Valencia, Catalonia, Navarre, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples and Portugal (1580–1640). With the ascension of the House of Bourbon to the Spanish throne, the historic Aragonese viceroyalties were replaced by new Captaincies General. At the end of War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish Monarchy was shorn of its Italian possessions. These Italian territories, however, continued to have viceroys under their new rulers for some time; Sardinia would have a viceroy until 1848.

:See also:

List of Spanish Viceroys of Aragon

List of Spanish Viceroys of Valencia

List of Spanish Viceroys of Catalonia

List of Spanish Viceroys of Navarra

List of Spanish Viceroys of Sardinia

List of Spanish Viceroys of Sicily

List of Spanish Viceroys of Naples

List of Spanish Viceroys of Portugal

In the Americas

With the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the institution of viceroys was adapted to govern the highly populated and wealthy regions of New Spain (Mexico) and Peru. The viceroys of these two areas had oversight over the other provinces, with most of the North American, Central American, Caribbean and East Indian areas supervised by the viceroy in Mexico City and the South American ones by the viceroy in Lima, (with the exception of most of today's Venezuela, which was overseen by the Audiencia of Santo Domingo for most of the colonial period). These large administrative territories became known as Viceroyalties (Spanish term: Virreinato). There were only two New World viceroyalties until the 18th century, when the new Bourbon Dynasty established two additional viceroyalties to promote economic growth and new settlements. New viceroyalties were created for New Granada in 1717 (capital, Bogotá) and the Río de la Plata in 1776 (capital, Buenos Aires).

The viceroyalties of the Spanish Americas and the Spanish East Indies were subdivided into smaller, automous units, the Audiencias and the Captaincies General, which in most cases became the bases for the independent countries of modern Hispanic America. These units gathered the local provinces which could be governed by a either a corregidor (sometimes alcalde mayor) or by a cabildo. Audiencias primarily functioned as superior judicial tribunals, but unlike their European counterparts, the New World audiencias were granted by law both administrative and legislative powers. Captaincies General were primarily military districts set up in areas with a risk of foreign or Indian attack, but the captains general were usually given political powers over the provinces under their command. Because the long distances to the viceregal capital would hamper effective communication, both audiencias and captains general were authorized to communicate directly with the crown through the Council of the Indies. The Bourbon Reforms introduced the new office of the intendant, which was appointed directly by the crown and had broad fiscal and administrative powers in political and military issues.

See also:

Viceroyalty of New Spain (1535–1821) – List of Viceroys of New Spain

Viceroyalty of Peru (1542–1824) – List of Viceroys of Peru

Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1819) – List of Viceroys of New Granada

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (1776–1814) – List of Viceroys of the Río de la Plata

Portuguese Empire

The title of Viceroy being awarded to members of the nobility, Viceroys, Governors and Governing Commissions were many times interleaved until the last Viceroy Afonso, Prince Royal of Portugal, in 1896. From 1505 to 1896 Portuguese India – the name "India" including all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to Southeast Asia, until 1752- was governed either by a Viceroy (Portuguese Vice-Rei) or Governor from its headquarters, in Goa since 1510. The government started six years after the discovery of sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, in 1505, under first Viceroy Francisco de Almeida (b.1450–d.1510). Initially, King Manuel I of Portugal tried a power distribution with three governors in different areas of jurisdiction, however the post was centered by governor Afonso de Albuquerque (1509–1515), who became plenipotentiary, and remained so. The duration in office was usually three years, possibly given the power represented: of the thirty-four governors of India in the 16th century, only six had longer mandates.

After the Iberian Union in 1640, the governors of colonial Brazil of the high nobility started to use the title of Viceroy. Brazil became a Viceroyalty in 1763, when the capital of the Estado do Brazil was transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. In 1775 Brazilian Estados (Brasil, Maranhão and Grão-Pará) were unified into the Viceroyalty of Brazil, with Rio de Janeiro as capital. In 1808, with the arrival of the Portuguese king, the office of Viceroy was extinguished never to be re-established, as Brazil was elevated to the rank of a kingdom in 1815, as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.

List of Viceroys and colonial heads of Portuguese India

Great Britain

British India

From 1858 until 1947, the chief British government official and representative of the British monarch in India was styled the "Viceroy and Governor-General of India". Initially an official operating primarily under the auspices of the British East India Company during the 18th century, under the Government of India Act 1858, the office of Viceroy became an official part of the British Government. Thenceforth, the Viceroy was appointed by the British Sovereign to oversee the administration of the British Raj and to conduct relations with the quasi-independent Princely States of India. The Viceroys reported directly to the Secretary of State for India in London and were advised by the Council of India. The Viceroys were largely unencumbered in the exercise of their authority and were among the most powerful men on earth in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, ruling over an entire subcontinent and with a large military force at their disposal in the form of the British Indian Army. Under the terms of the Government of India Act 1919, Viceroys shared some limited aspects of their authority with the Central Legislative Assembly, one of the first steps of reform as India progressed towards home rule under the Government of India Act 1935, independence as a Dominion in 1947, and ultimately the declaration of a republic in 1949.

Alongside the Commander-in-Chief, India, the Viceroy was the public face of the British presence in India, attending to many ceremonial functions as well as political affairs. As the representative of the Emperors and Empresses of India, who were also the Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Viceroy served as the Grand Master of the two principal chivalric orders of British India: the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire. During the office's history, the Governor-Generals of India were based in two cities: Calcutta during the 19th century and New Delhi during the 20th century. Additionally, whilst Calcutta was the capital of British India, the Viceroys spent the summer months at Simla. The two historic residences of the Viceroys still stand: the Viceroy's House in New Delhi and Government House in Calcutta. They are used today as the official residences of the President of India and the Governor of West Bengal, respectively. The portraits of the Governors-General still hang in a room on the ground floor of the Presidential Palace, one of the last vestiges of both the Viceroys and the British Raj.

Notable Governors-General of India include Warren Hastings, Lord Cornwallis, Lord Curzon, the Earl of Minto, Lord Chelmsford, and Lord Mountbatten. Lord Mountbatten served as the last Viceroy of British India, but continued on as the first Governor-General of the Dominion of India.

Commonwealth

The Lords Lieutenant of Ireland were often referred to as "Viceroy" after 1700 until 1922, even though the Kingdom of Ireland had been merged in 1801 into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The term has also been occasionally applied to the Governors-General of the British Dominions (now called Commonwealth Realms). In practice the Lieutenant Governors of the Canadian Provinces and the Governors of the Australian States are viceroys, although the term is not used.

Russian Empire

Namestnik (, ) was an office position in the history of the Russian Empire. Its literal translation would be "viceroy", "deputy", "lieutenant" (the broader sense of that word) or literally in place appointee. The term has two periods of usage, with different meanings. Namestnik replaced the obsolete position of voyevoda (ruler of krai or uyezd) by Peter I.

In the 12th–16th centuries, namestniks (more correctly knyaz namestniks, or "knyaz deputies") were in charge of local administration. In particular, they ruled uyezds.

In the 18th–20th centuries, a namestnik was a person in charge of namestnichestvo, with plenipotentiary powers. The latter has traditionally been translated as viceroyalty and "namestnik" as viceroy or vicegerent (or, as a common blunder, "viceregent"). For example, Mikhail Vorontsov was namestnik of Bessarabia (1823–44) and of the Caucasus (1844–1854). Sometimes the term is confused with Governor General (генерал-губернатор). For example, during Vorontsov's term of office in Bessarabia, seven governor-generals were in, and at the same time he held the office of Governor General of New Russia. The following namestnik existed under the Romanov Emperors of Russia:

Kingdom of Poland, while in personal union under the Emperors of Russia as Kings (styled Tsar; 20 June 1815–5 November 1916), had only one Viceroy, 9 December 1815–1 December 1830: Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov (b. 1779–d. 1831)

Viceroyalty of the Caucasus – Transcaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaidjan and Georgia; first under Governors in Tbilisi 1802–1844) had Viceroys of Transcaucasia.

The Tsar Paul I's 1799 formation of the Russian-American Company obviated viceroys in the colonization of the northwestern New World.

Other viceroyalties

French colonies

New France, in present Canada, after a single Governor (24 July 1534–15 January 1541 Jacques Cartier) had Lieutenants-general and Viceroys 15 January 1541 – September 1543 Jean François de la Rocquet, sieur de Robervalle (b. c.1500–d. 1560), after September 1543–3 January 1578 Abandonment again 3 January 1578 – February 1606 Troilus de Mesgouez, marquis de la Roche-Mesgouez (d. 1606) (viceroy and from 12 January 1598, lieutenant-general), February 1606–1614 Jean de Biencourt, sieur de Poutrincourt, baron de St. Just (b. 1557–d. 1615); next a series of Viceroys (resident in France) 8 October 1611–1672, later Governors and Governors-general.

Italian colonies

In Italian Viceré: The highest colonial representatives in the "federation" of Italian East Africa (six provinces, each under a governor; together Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland) were no longer styled "High Commissioner", but "Viceroy and Governor-general" from 5 May 1936, when fascist forces temporarily occupied Ethiopia, until 27 November 1941, when the last Italian administrator surrendered to the Allies. The Italian King Victor Emmanuel claimed the title of "Emperor of Ethiopia" (Nəgusä nägäst, "King of Kings") and declared himself to be a successor to the Nəgusä nägäst, even though Emperor Haile Selassie I continued to hold this title while in exile, and resumed his actual, physical throne on 5 May 1941.

Other viceroys

The American Director of the Coalition Provisional Authority (later given the title of U.S. Presidential Envoy and Administrator in Iraq) after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, was referred to by Time magazine and the Washington Post as a "viceroy".

Non-Western counterparts

As many princely and administrative titles, viceroy is often used, generally unofficially, to render somewhat equivalent titles and offices in non-western cultures.

Ottoman empire

The khedive of Egypt, especially in the dynasty initiated by Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805–1848). This officer established an almost autonomous regime in Egypt, which officially still was under Ottoman rule. Although Mehemet Ali/Muhammad Ali used different symbols to mark his independence from the Sublime Porte, he never openly declared himself independent. Adopting the title of viceroy was yet another way to walk the thin line between challenging the Sultan's power explicitly and respecting his jurisdiction. Muhammad Ali Pasha's son, Ismail Pasha, subsequently received the title of Khedive which was almost an equivalent to viceroy.

Vietnamese empire

The post of Tổng Trấn (governor of all military provinces) was a political post in the early of Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty (1802–1830). From 1802, under the reign of emperor Gia Long, there were always two Tổng Trấn who directly ruled Vietnam's northern part named Bắc Thành (Hanoi and surrounding territories) and the southern part named Gia Định (Saigon and surrounding territories) while Nguyen emperors ruled only the middle part named Vùng Kinh Kỳ (Huế and surrounding territories). Tổng Trấn is sometimes translated to English as viceroy. In 1930, emperor Minh Mạng abolished the post in order to increase the imperial direct ruling power in all over Vietnam. The best-known Vietnamese viceroy in the west is Lê Văn Duyệt, who ruled the southern part of Vietnam twice (1812–1815 and 1820–1832) and had many contact with Europeans.

Chinese empires

During the Han, Ming and Qing dynasties, there existed positions of viceroys having control over various provinces (e.g., Liangguang = Guangdong and Guangxi, Huguang = Hubei and Hunan).

See also

Vicegerent

Notes

Sources and references

Elliott, J. H., Imperial Spain, 1469–1716. London: Edward Arnold, 1963.

Fisher, Lillian Estelle. Viceregal Administration in the Spanish American Colonies. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1926.

Harding, C. H., The Spanish Empire in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1947.

Further reading

Andrada (undated). The Life of Dom John de Castro: The Fourth Vice Roy of India. Jacinto Freire de Andrada. Translated into English by Peter Wyche. (1664) Henry Herrington, New Exchange, London. Facsimilie edition (1994) AES Reprint, New Delhi. ISBN 81-206-0900-X.

hrono.ru: namestnik

Category:Gubernatorial titles Category:Noble titles Category:Spanish colonization of the Americas * Category:Positions of subnational authority Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership

{| style="float:right;" |

Coordinates	13°42′35.93″N76°12′11.54″N
Type	monarch
Name	Juan Carlos I
Full name	Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor
Succession	King of Spain
Moretext	(more)
Reign	22 November 1975 – present()
Coronation	November 27, 1975
Cor-type	Anointment
Predecessor	Francisco Franco
Successor	Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Suc-type	Heir apparent
Spouse	Sophia of Greece and Denmark
Issue	Infanta Elena, Duchess of LugoInfanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de MallorcaFelipe, Prince of Asturias
Reg-type	Prime Ministers
Regent
House	House of Bourbon
Religion	Catholic
Father	Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona
Mother	Princess Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Birth date	January 05, 1938
Birth place	Rome, Italy

|- | |- |

Name	The King of Spain
Dipstyle	His Majesty
Offstyle	Your Majesty
Altstyle	Sire

|}

Juan Carlos I (baptized as Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; born 5 January 1938) is the reigning King of Spain.

On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. The Spanish throne had been vacant for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the next head of state. The Spanish Constitution of 1978, voted in referendum, acknowledges him expressly as King of Spain. The Spanish Constitution, Title II: the Crown, Article 56, Subsection 1, affirms the role of the Spanish monarch as the personification and embodiment of the Spanish nation, a symbol of Spain's enduring unity and permanence; and as such, the monarch is the head-of-state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces in a system known in Spanish as "monarquía parlamentaria" (parliamentary monarchy).

King Juan Carlos successfully oversaw the transition of Spain from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy.

Juan Carlos married Sophia of Greece and Denmark in 1962. The couple have three children and eight grandchildren.

Polls from 2000 show that he is widely approved of by Spaniards. According to the Spanish Constitution, the monarch is also instrumental in promoting Ibero-American relations, the "nations of its historical community".

Early life

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. He moved to Spain in 1948 to be educated there after his father persuaded Franco to allow this. He began his studies in San Sebastián and finished them in 1954 at the San Isidro Institute in Madrid. He then joined the army, doing his officer training from 1955 to 1957 at the Military Academy of Zaragoza.

Juan Carlos has two sisters and one brother: Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (born 1936), and Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria (born 1939) and his younger brother Alfonso.

In March 1956, Juan Carlos's younger brother Alfonso died in a gun accident at the family's home Villa Giralda in Estoril, Portugal. The Spanish Embassy in Portugal issued an official communiqué:

: Whilst His Highness Prince Alfonso was cleaning a revolver last evening with his brother, a shot was fired hitting his forehead and killing him in a few minutes. The accident took place at 20.30 hours, after the Infante's return from the Maundy Thursday religious service, during which he had received holy communion.

Very quickly, however, rumours appeared in newspapers that the gun had actually been held by Juan Carlos at the moment the shot was fired. Josefina Carolo, dressmaker to Juan Carlos's mother, said that Juan Carlos pointed the pistol at Alfonso and pulled the trigger, unaware that the pistol was loaded. Bernardo Arnoso, a Portuguese friend of Juan Carlos, also said that Juan Carlos fired the pistol not knowing that it was loaded, and adding that the bullet ricocheted off a wall hitting Alfonso in the face. Helena Matheopoulos, a Greek author who spoke with Juan Carlos's sister Pilar, said that Alfonso had been out of the room and when he returned and pushed the door open, the door knocked Juan Carlos in the arm causing him to fire the pistol.

In 1957 Juan Carlos spent a year in the naval school at Marin, Pontevedra and another in the Air Force school in San Javier in Murcia. In 1961 he graduated from the Complutense University. He then went to live in the Palace of Zarzuela, and began carrying out official engagements.

Prince of Spain, 1969-1975

The dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco had come to power after the military golpe and during the following Spanish Civil War, which had pitted the Second Republic and its defenders, including democrats, anarchists, socialists, and Communists. Franco coup and rise to power was supported by the major European Axis powers of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany and also by neighbouring Portugal. Soviet Union and Joseph Stalin were in part supportive in the defence of the Republic. Domestically, Franco coup was favoured by fascists, nationalists, monarchists, and conservatives.

Despite his alliance with monarchists, Franco was not eager to restore the deposed Spanish monarchy once in power, preferring to head a regime with himself as head of state for life. Though Franco's partisan supporters generally accepted this arrangement for the present, much debate quickly ensued over who would replace Franco upon his death. The far right factions demanded the return of a hardline absolute monarchy, and eventually Franco agreed that his successor would be a monarch. Franco, a Carlist by some accounts, 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. However, General Franco viewed the heir with extreme suspicion, believing him to be a liberal who was opposed to his regime. Franco then considered giving the Spanish throne to Juan Carlos's cousin Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz. Alfonso was known to be an ardent Francoist and would marry Franco's granddaughter, Doña María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco in 1972. In response, Juan Carlos started to use his second name Carlos to assert his claim to the heritage of the Carlist branch of his family.

Ultimately, Franco decided to skip a generation and name Juan de Borbón's son, Prince Juan Carlos, as his personal successor. Franco hoped the young prince could be groomed to take over the nation while still maintaining the ultraconservative nature of his regime. In 1969, Juan Carlos was officially designated heir and was given the new title of Prince of Spain (not the traditional Prince of Asturias). As a condition of being named heir-apparent, he had to swear loyalty to Franco's Movimiento Nacional, which he did with little outward hesitation.

Prince Juan Carlos met and consulted Franco many times while heir apparent, and often took part in official and ceremonial state functions standing alongside the dictator, much to the indignation of hardline republicans and more moderate liberals, who had hoped that Franco's death would bring in an era of reform. During 1969-1975, Juan Carlos publicly supported Franco's regime. Although Franco's health worsened during those years, whenever he did appear in public, from state dinners to military parades, it was in Juan Carlos company as he continued to praise Franco and his government for the economic growth and positive changes in Spain. However, as the years progressed, Juan Carlos began meeting secretly with political opposition leaders and exiles, who were fighting to bring liberal reform to the country. He also had secret conversations with his father over the telephone. Franco, for his part, remained largely oblivious to the prince's actions and denied allegations from his ministers and advisors that Juan Carlos was in any way disloyal to his vision of the regime.

During periods of Franco's temporary incapacity in 1974 and 1975 Juan Carlos was acting head of state. 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, at the Jerónimos Church in Madrid. He opted, when referred to in English, not to call himself John III or Charles V, but by his Spanish name of Juan Carlos I.

Restoration of the monarchy

After dictator Franco's death, King Juan Carlos I quickly instituted reforms, to the great displeasure of Falangist and conservative (monarchist) elements, especially in the military, who had expected him to maintain the authoritarian state. He appointed Adolfo Suárez, a former leader of the Movimiento Nacional, as Prime Minister of Spain.

, President of Romania, during his visit to Spain in 1979]] On 20 May 1977, the leader of the only recently legalized Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) Felipe González, accompanied by Javier Solana, visited Juan Carlos in the Zarzuela Palace. The event represented a key endorsement of the monarchy from Spain's political left, who had been historically republican. Left-wing support for the monarchy grew when the Communist Party of Spain was legalized shortly thereafter, a move Juan Carlos had pressed for, despite enormous right-wing military opposition at that time, during the Cold War.

On 15 June 1977, Spain held its first post-Franco democratic elections. In 1978, a new Constitution was promulgated that acknowledged Juan Carlos as rightful heir of the Spanish dynasty and King; specifically, Title II, Section 57 asserted Juan Carlos' right to the throne of Spain by dynastic succession in the Borbón tradition, as "the legitimate heir of the historic dynasty" rather than as the designated successor of Franco. The Constitution was passed by the democratically elected Constituent Cortes, ratified by the people in a referendum (6 December) and then signed into law by the King before a solemn meeting of the Cortes.

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, transferring to him the historical heritage of the Spanish monarchy, thus making Juan Carlos both the de facto and the de jure (rightful) King in the eyes of the traditional monarchists. Juan Carlos, who had already been King since Franco's death, gave an acceptance address after his father's resignation speech and thanked him by confirming the title of Count of Barcelona that Don Juan had assumed in exile. It was a sovereign title associated to the crown.

An attempted military coup, known as 23-F, occurred on 23 February 1981. In this coup the Cortes were seized by members of the Guardia Civil in the parliamentary chamber. Believed to be a major factor in foiling the coup was the public television broadcast by the king, calling for unambiguous support for the legitimate democratic government. Certainly, in the hours before his speech, he had personally called many senior military figures to tell them that he was opposed to the coup and that they had to defend the democratic government.

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 mentioned above, however, in an emotional statement, Carrillo told television viewers: "God save the king." The Communist leader also remarked: "Today, we are all monarchists." If public support for the monarchy among democrats and leftists before 1981 had been limited, following the king's handling of the coup, it became significantly greater. According to a poll in the newspaper El Mundo in November 2005, 77.5% of Spaniards thought Juan Carlos was "good or very good", 15.4% "not so good", and only 7.1% "bad or very bad". Even so, the issue of the monarchy re-emerged on 28 September 2007 as photos of the king were burnt in public in Catalonia by small groups of protesters wanting the restoration of the Republic.

However, in February 23th 2011, in the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the fail of the State Coup, Juan Carlos I and Santiago Carrillo protagonized the curios moment, a hug which represented true friendship.

In July 2000, Juan Carlos was the target of an enraged protester when Juan María Fernández y Krohn, who had previously tried to take the life of Pope John Paul II, began shouting "Murderer! Murderer!" at the king and then approached him in a very threatening manner.

Role in contemporary Spanish politics

The election of socialist leader Felipe González to the Spanish prime ministership in 1982 marked the effective end of the King's active involvement in Spanish politics. González would govern for over a decade, and his administration helped consolidate the democratic gains and thus maintained the stability of the nation. While the king is generally reckoned as having a merely ceremonial role in politics, he commands great moral authority as an essential symbol of the country's unity.

Under the constitution, the King has immunity from prosecution in matters relating to his official duties. This is so because every act of the King as such (and not as a citizen) needs to be undersigned by a government official, thus making the undersigner responsible instead of the king. Offences against the honour of the Royal Family are specially protected by the Spanish Penal Code. Under this protection, Basque independentist Arnaldo Otegi and cartoonists from El Jueves were tried and punished.

The King gives an annual speech to the nation on Christmas Eve. He is the commander-in-chief of the Spanish armed forces.

When the media asked Juan Carlos in 2005 if he would endorse the bill legalizing gay marriage that was then being debated in the Cortes Generales, he answered "Soy el Rey de España y no el de Bélgica" ("I am the King of Spain, not of Belgium") a reference to King Baudouin I of Belgium, who refused to sign the Belgian law legalising abortion. The King gave his Royal Assent to Law 13/2005 on 1 July 2005; the law legalizing gay marriage was gazetted in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 2 July, and came into effect on 3 July.

.]]

In November 2007 at the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago de Chile, during a heated exchange, Juan Carlos interrupted Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and asked him, "¿Por qué no te callas?" ("Why don't you shut up?"). Chávez had been interrupting the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, while the latter was defending his predecessor and political opponent, José María Aznar, after Chávez had referred to Aznar as a fascist and "less human than snakes". The King shortly afterwards left the hall when President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua accused Spain of intervention in his country's elections and complained about some Spanish energy companies working in Nicaragua.

Family and private life

with U.S. President George W. Bush and Laura Bush (2001).]]

Juan Carlos was married in Athens at the Church of Saint Dennis on 14 May 1962, to HRH Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark, daughter of King Paul. She was Greek Orthodox but converted to Roman Catholicism in order to become Spain's queen. They have two daughters and a son.

Infanta Elena María Isabel Dominica

Infanta Cristina Federica Victoria Antonia

Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso, Prince of Asturias

In 1972, Juan Carlos, a keen sailor, competed in the Dragon class event at the Olympic Games, though he did not win any medals. In their summer holidays, the whole family meets in Marivent Palace (Palma de Mallorca) and the Fortuna yacht, where they take part in sailing competitions. The king has manned the Bribón series of yachts. In winter, they usually go skiing in Baqueira-Beret and Candanchú (Pyrenees), where the king has occasionally ended with a broken leg.

Juan Carlos also enjoys bear hunting. In October 2004, he angered environmental activists by killing nine bears (of which one was a pregnant female) in central Romania. In August 2006, it is alleged that Juan Carlos shot a drunken tame bear (Mitrofan) during a private hunting trip to Russia. The Office of the Spanish Monarchy denies this claim, which was made by the Russian regional authorities.

Juan Carlos and Sophia are fluent in several languages. They both speak Spanish, English, French, and Italian. The king also speaks fluent Catalan. Unlike the queen, Juan Carlos does not speak any 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 motorbike riding has raised urban legends of people finding him on lonely roads. Even to the extent that a biker out of petrol stranded on a hot sunny day was assisted by a fellow motorcyclist who returned with a small container of petrol, the good-Samaritan on removing his helmet was apparently, Juan Carlos.

Juan Carlos is member of the World Scout Foundation.

Health

A benign tumour was removed from King Juan Carlos’ lung in an operation carried out in the "Hospital Clínic" of Barcelona on Saturday 8 May 2010. The 72 year old Monarch was expected to be allowed home in three or four days, and able to renew full physical activity in a fortnight. The operation came as a result of the King’s latest annual check-up, and doctors said the procedure went well and Juan Carlos would not need any further follow-up treatment. At a press convention the operating team said that the 17-19mm tumour which had been removed under a general anaesthetic from the right lung contained no malignant cells. ‘This is good news’, said doctor Laureano Molins, who had directed the operation.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles

The current Spanish constitution refers to the monarchy as "the Crown of Spain" and the constitutional title of the monarch is simply Rey/Reina de España: that is, "king/queen of Spain". However, the constitution allows for the use of other historic titles pertaining to the Spanish monarchy, without specifying them. A decree promulgated 6 November 1987 at the Council of Ministers regulates the titles further, and on that basis the monarch of Spain has a right to use ("may use") those other titles appertaining to the Crown. Contrary to some belief, the long titulary that contains the list of over 20 kingdoms, etc., is not in state use, nor is it used in Spanish diplomacy. In fact, it has never been in use in that form, as "Spain" was never a part of the list in pre-1837 era when the long list was officially used.

This feudal style was last used officially in 1836, in the titulary of Isabella II of Spain before she became constitutional Queen.

Juan Carlos's titles include that of King of Jerusalem, as successor to the royal family of Naples.

Titles in official use

of the King of Spain.]]

King of Spain, of Castile, of León, of Aragon, of the Two Sicilies (Naples and Sicily), of Jerusalem, of Navarre, of Granada, of Toledo, of Valencia, of Galicia, of Majorca, of Seville, of Sardinia, of Córdoba, of Corsica, of Murcia, of Menorca, of Jaén, of Algeciras, of Gibraltar, of the Canary Islands, of the East and West Indies and of the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea;

Archduke of Austria;

Duke of Burgundy, of Brabant, of Milan, and of Neopatra (New Patras);

Count of Habsburg, of Flanders, of Tyrol, of Roussillon and of Barcelona;

Lord of Biscay and of Molina

Honours

Sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece (Spain)

Grand Master of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III (Spain)

Grand Master of the Royal Order of Isabel the Catholic (Spain)

Grand Master of the Royal and Military Order of St. Hermenegildo (Spain)

Grand Master of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Ferdinand (Spain)

Grand Master of the Order of Montesa (Spain)

Grand Master of the Order of Alcántara (Spain)

Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava (Spain)

Grand Master of the Order of Santiago (Spain)

Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honor (France)

Knight Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (Portugal)

Knight (974th) of the Order of the Garter (United Kingdom)

Royal Victorian Chain (United Kingdom)

Knight of the Order of the White Lion (Czech Republic)

Knight of the Order of the Rajamitrabhorn (Thailand)

Knight Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (House of Bourbon) Knight of the Order of Saint Januarius (House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies) Knight of the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation (House of Savoy)

Lord Protector of the International Order of St Hubertus

Other honours

The king has been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, including from University of Santo Tomas, Philippines;

In 1997, NYU opened the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (to promote research and teaching on Spain and the Spanish-speaking world) in the historic Judson Hall and adjacent buildings on Washington Square in New York City. He is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution organization. In 1996, he received the Jean Monnet award of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe for his work on integrating Spain into the European Community. Juan Carlos I Park, the main municipal park of Madrid, was named after the king. The Spanish Antarctic Base on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for King Juan Carlos I of Spain. The multi-purpose warship Juan Carlos I of the Spanish navy is named for King Juan Carlos I. Juan Carlos also was awarded the Charlemagne Prize in 1982.

Ancestors

.]] King Juan Carlos is a direct descendant of many famous European rulers from different countries. He is a descendant of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom through his grandmother, Victoria Eugenie; of Louis XIV of France through the House of Bourbon; of the Emperor Charles V, who belonged to the Habsburg dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. The Capetian dynasty to which he belongs is the oldest in Europe. Some of his distant ancestors include Joan, Duchess of Burgundy and queen consort of Philip VI of France. He is a descendant of Maria Leszczyńska, daughter of King Stanislaus Leszczynski of Poland, and Queen Consort of France through an unbroken line of Bourbon princesses who married within the Bourbon house. He's also a descendant of Pelagius, first king (718-737 a.C) during the Reconquista, as descendant of the kings of Castile and Leon, and through him the Visigothic kings. The King is a direct descendent of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.

Patrilineal descent

See also

List of national leaders

History of Spain

Politics of Spain

Line of succession to the Spanish Throne

List of titles and honours of the Spanish Crown

List of titles and honours of Juan Carlos I of Spain

References

Notes

Paul Preston, Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy, W W Norton & Co Inc, June 2004. ISBN 0-393-05804-2.

Ronald Hilton, SPAIN: King Juan Carlos.

External links

Official website of the Spanish Royal Family

Royal House of Spain

Royal House of Greece

Juan Carlos I Family Tree

Spanish king tells Chavez to 'shut up'

Voices of the Transition - A Political History of Spain, 1975-1982

Biography of Juan Carlos I at CIDOB Foundation

His pedigree; not necessarily reliable

Earth Times article

Spain supports the monarchy

Royals

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