Juan Carlos << hwahn KAHR lohs >> I (1938-…) was the king of Spain from 1975 to 2014. He became king after the death of Francisco Franco, the dictator of Spain. As king, Juan Carlos played an important role in a movement that changed Spain from a dictatorship to a democracy (see Spain (Political changes) ).
Juan Carlos became Spain’s first king in 44 years. His grandfather, Alfonso XIII, served as king of Spain from 1902 to 1931, when Spain became a republic. Alfonso died in 1941, and Don Juan—his son and Juan Carlos’s father—claimed the Spanish throne. Franco, who had become dictator in 1939, rejected the claim. In 1969, he declared that after his retirement or death, Juan Carlos would become king of Spain.
Juan Carlos was born on Jan 5, 1938, in Rome, Italy, where his parents were living in exile. Franco brought him to Spain in 1947 and supervised his education. Juan Carlos attended Spain’s Military Academy, Naval School, Air Academy, and the University of Madrid. In 1962, he married Princess Sophia of Greece.
In 2014, Juan Carlos abdicated (gave up) the throne to his son, Felipe . His abdication followed a number of scandals involving members of the royal family. In 2020, Spain’s Supreme Court announced that it was investigating the former king for alleged financial corruption dating to the time he was head of state. In response, Juan Carlos left Spain and went to live in exile in the United Arab Emirates.
