The Royal House of Bourbon

Country: Spain

Royal House Name: Bourbon

Current Head: King Juan Carlos (born: January 5, 1938)

Reigned: since November 1975

Consort: Queen Sofia

Successor: HRH Prince Felipe, the Prince of Asturias 

King Juan Carlos

Since its unification in the middle of 16^th century, Spain is ruled by the Hapsburg monarchs who descended from Emperor Maximilian I. The Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile were united under the name Spain by the first Hapsburg King, Charles I who would become Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (son of Joanna the Mad). But when his grandson, Charles II, died without a direct successor, the throne passed to Prince Philip, grandson of a Bourbon King, Louis XIV of France.

KIng Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia

The Spanish throne heavily drew its history on different wars of succession. The Carlist Wars, the series of armed conflict in Spain, were considered as the last major European wars where pretenders to the throne pressed its claim. Ferdinand V’s brother, Infante Carlos, forced his sister-in-law, who sat as regent for her infant daughter Isabella II, to flee the country. The country endured political and economic turmoil for many decades, in 1931 during Spanish civil war, King Alfonso XIII, who was married to Queen Victoria of England’s granddaughter, Princess Eugenie Mountbatten, was forced to leave the country with his family.

But one of his sons, Prince Juan, made effort to make peace with the dictator, Francisco Franco. He then brought his son, Juan Carlos, to Spain to receive a Spanish education and maintained a diplomatic relation with Franco’s government. Franco relented and agreed to return the country into constitutional monarchy, but Prince Juan declined the throne to give way to his only son, who became King Juan Carlos on November 22, 1975. The King  was credited for the smooth transition of government from dictatorship to constitutional monarchy.

  

King Juan Carlos, an Olympian in the sailing event, married to Princess Sofia of Greece, daughter of King Paul I of Greece, on May 14, 1962. The couple had three children: Infanta Elena, Infanta Cristina and the heir-apparent, Prince Felipe, the Prince of Asturias.

Royal Family of Spain

HM King Juan Carlos

HM Queen Sofia

  HRH Prince Felipe

  HRH Princess Letizia

       HRH Infanta Eleanor

       HRH Infanta Sofia

HRH Infanta Elena, the Duchess of Lugo

HRH Infanta Cristina, the Duchess of Palma de Mallorca

HRH Inaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma de Mallorca