by Emily McMahon © Unofficial Royalty 2013
Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona; Credit – Wikipedia
Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona, was the father of King Juan Carlos of Spain. He was born on June 2, 1913, at the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso in Segovia, Spain, the third son of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
Juan had six siblings:
- Infante Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (1907-1938) – married (1) Edelmira Sampedro y Robato, no children, divorced (2) Marta Esther Rocafort-Altuzarra, no children
- Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia (1908-1975) – married (1) Emmanuelle de Dampierre, had two sons, divorced (2) Charlotte Luise Auguste Tiedemann, no children
- Infanta Beatriz (1909-2002) – married Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince of Civitella-Cesi, four children
- Infante Fernando (stillborn 1910)
- Infanta María Cristina (1911-1996) – married Count Enrico Marone, four children
- Infante Gonzalo (1914-1934) – not married
Juan (front right), with his mother and siblings, c1917. source: Wikipedia
Following his initial studies in Madrid, he entered the Spanish Naval Academy. His training, however, was interrupted when the Spanish monarchy was overthrown in April 1931, and the Second Spanish Republic was declared. The royal family went into exile, and Juan continued his training with the British Royal Navy. His position within the family would soon change drastically. In 1933, both his elder brothers renounced their succession rights, and Juan became heir-apparent to the Spanish throne.
On January 13, 1935, while in Rome for the wedding of his sister Beatriz, Juan attended a party held by King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy and met his future wife, his second cousin Princess Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. She was the daughter of Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and his second wife, Princess Louise of Orléans. They were soon engaged and married in Rome on October 12, 1935. The couple initially settled in Cannes, before moving on to Rome. With the outbreak of World War II, they moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, and later to Estoril, Portugal.
Juan and Maria Mercedes had four children:
- Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (1936 – 2020) – married Don Luis Gómez-Acebo y Duque de Estrada, Viscount de la Torre, had issue
- King Juan Carlos of Spain (born 1938) – married Princess Sophia of Greece, had issue
- Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria (born 1939) – married Carlos Emilio Juan Zurita y Delgado, had issue
- Infante Alfonso (1941 – 1956) – died in a gun accident in 1956
In January 1941, former King Alfonso XIII, knowing that his life was dying, formally abdicated in favor of his son Juan, who became the pretender to the Spanish throne. After Alfonso’s death a month later, Juan began using the title Count of Barcelona, one of the traditional hereditary titles of the Spanish monarch.
However, when Francisco Franco declared the restoration of the monarchy in 1947, he named himself Regent. It would be another 22 years before he named his successor. Feeling that Juan would be too liberal, he instead passed over him and chose Juan’s son, Juan Carlos, as heir to the Spanish throne.
Juan’s son became King of Spain after Franco’s death in 1975. Two years later, Infante Juan renounced his claims to the throne and was formally granted the title Count of Barcelona, which he had been using since his father’s death in 1941.
Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, died of laryngeal cancer in Pamplona, Spain on April 1, 1993. He was buried, with the honors of a King, in the Royal Crypt of the Monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial.
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