Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Alfonso XIII
succession	King of Spain
reign	17 May 1886 - 14 April 1931()
predecessor	Alfonso XII
successor	Niceto Alcalá-Zamora (as ''President'')Juan Carlos I (as ''King of Spain'')
spouse	Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
issue	Roger Marie Vincent Philippe Lévêque de VilmorinAlfonso, Prince of AsturiasJaime, Duke of SegoviaBeatriz, Princess of Civitella-CesiInfanta Maria Christina, Countess of MaroneInfante Juan, Count of BarcelonaInfante GonzaloJuana Alfonsa Milán y Quiñones de LeónAna María Teresa Ruiz y MoragasLeandro Alfonso Luis Ruiz y Moragas
house	House of Bourbon
father	Alfonso XII of Spain
mother	Maria Christina of Austria
birth date	May 17, 1886
birth place	Madrid, Spain
death date	February 28, 1941
death place	Rome, Italy
place of burial	El Escorial
religion	Roman Catholicism
full name	Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Austria-Lorena }}

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.

Reign

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".

When he came of age in 1902, the week of his majority was marked by festivities, bullfights, balls and receptions throughout Spain.

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."

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 Madrid, Real Sociedad, Real Betis, Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña 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. 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. In January 1980 his remains were transferred to El Escorial in Spain.

Marriage and children

thumb|right|200px|1929 portrait of King Alfonso XIIIOn 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 in Paris 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 Ester Rocafort-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 Marone-Cinzano.

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 Bürgisser (b. Florence, 25 September 1958 - d. 2010), married to Teresa Sancristoforo (b. Genoa, 13 October 1961), and had issue: ''

** ''Cristoforo Bürgisser (b. Florence, 29 October 1999)''

** ''Tea Bürgisser (b. Florence, 8 October 2001)''

* ''María del Carmen Bürgisser (b. 1959), unmarried and without 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

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

Maestranza de Caballeria (Royal Cavalry Armory) de Ronda, Sevilla, Granada, Valencia y Zaragoza

Order of Charles III Order of Santiago Order of Calatrava Order of Alcántara Order of Montesa

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.

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel-compact5 |style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%; |border=1 |boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe; |1= 1. Alfonso XIII of Spain |2= 2. Alfonso XII of Spain |3= 3. Maria Christina of Austria |4= 4. Infante Francis, Duke of Cádiz |5= 5. Isabella II of Spain |6= 6. Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria |7= 7. Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria |8= 8. Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain |9= 9. Princess Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies |10= 10. Ferdinand VII of Spain |11= 11. Princess Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies |12= 12. Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen |13= 13. Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg |14= 14. Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary |15= 15. Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg |16= 16. Charles IV of Spain |17= 17. Princess Maria Luisa of Parma |18= 18. Francis I of the Two Sicilies |19= 19. Infanta María Isabella of Spain |20= 20. Charles IV of Spain (=16) |21= 21. Princess Maria Luisa of Parma (=17) |22= 22. Francis I of the Two Sicilies (=18) |23= 23. Infanta María Isabella of Spain (=19) |24= 24. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor |25= 25. Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain |26= 26. Frederick William, Duke of Nassau |27= 27. Burgravine Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg |28= 28. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (=24) |29= 29. Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain (=25) |30= 30. Duke Louis of Württemberg |31= 31. Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg }}

References

Bibliography

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)

|- |- |- {{s-ttl|title=Cover of Time Magazine |years=22 December 1924}}

Category:1886 births Category:1941 deaths Category:People from Madrid Category:Spanish monarchs Category:Roman Catholic monarchs Category:House of Bourbon (Spain) Category:Legitimist pretenders to the French throne Category:Attempted assassination survivors Category:British Field Marshals Category:Knights of Santiago Category:Knights of the Order of Alcántara Category:Knights of the Garter Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav Category:Recipients of the Royal Victorian Chain Category:Modern child rulers Category:Burials at Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli church, Rome Category:Spanish infantes Category:Burials in the Pantheon of Kings at El Escorial, Madrid Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Category:Grand Masters of the Order of the Golden Fleece Category:Knights of the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation

ar:ألفونسو الثالث عشر من إسبانيا ast:Alfonsu XIII bs:Alfons XIII, kralj Španije bg:Алфонсо XIII ca:Alfons XIII d'Espanya cs:Alfons XIII. cy:Alfonso XIII, brenin Sbaen da:Alfons 13. af Spanien de:Alfons XIII. (Spanien) et:Alfonso XIII el:Αλφόνσος ΙΓ΄ της Ισπανίας es:Alfonso XIII de España eo:Alfonso la 13-a (Hispanio) eu:Alfontso XIII.a Espainiakoa fa:آلفونسو سیزدهم fr:Alphonse XIII d'Espagne gl:Afonso XIII de España ko:알폰소 13세 hr:Alfons XIII. io:Alfonso 13ma id:Alfonso XIII dari Spanyol it:Alfonso XIII di Spagna he:אלפונסו השלושה עשר, מלך ספרד ka:ალფონსო XIII (ესპანეთი) la:Alphonsus XIII (rex Hispaniae) lv:Alfonso XIII hu:XIII. Alfonz spanyol király mk:Алфонсо XIII (Шпанија) arz:الفونسو التلاتاشر ملك اسپانيا nl:Alfons XIII van Spanje ja:アルフォンソ13世 (スペイン王) no:Alfonso XIII av Spania oc:Anfós XIII d'Espanha pl:Alfons XIII Hiszpański pt:Afonso XIII de Espanha ro:Alfonso al XIII-lea al Spaniei ru:Альфонсо XIII sk:Alfonz XIII. (Španielsko) sr:Алфонсо XIII од Шпаније fi:Alfonso XIII sv:Alfons XIII av Spanien tl:Alfonso XIII th:พระเจ้าอัลฟอนโซที่ 13 แห่งสเปน tr:XIII. Alfonso uk:Альфонс XIII (король Іспанії) zh-yue:亞利方疎十三世 zh:阿方索十三世