MOSCOW, June 2 (RIA Novosti) - Juan Carlos is giving up his position as the monarch of Spain, the country’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced on Monday.
The king’s son, Crown Prince Felipe, will succeed him as the formal head of state. Since Spain has not seen other king than Juan Carlos since the restoration of monarchy in 1975, the country’s legislature does not previse a law regulating the transition of power between the monarchs. Hence, a special ministerial meeting is set to establish the power transmission procedure.
76-year-old Juan Carlos, the First of Spain, has been one of the world’s most popular monarchs, both at home and abroad, despite a series of corruption investigations against his family over the last years. He has been ruling Spain for consecutive 39 years over the time of the country’s transition to democracy, economic growth and financial crisis. He stopped active participation in political process in 1982, focusing on public relations. The king had a numbers of health problems, undergoing surgical intervention in 2010 in 2012.
Since the royal family fled from Spain after the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931, Juan Carlos was born in Rome in 1938. The right-wing dictator Francisco Franco, who came to power after the Civil War in 1939, has decided not to re-establish monarchy. Young Juan Carlos later moved to Franco’s Spain to receive military education there.
Juan Carlos has been a strong supporter of Franco, and in 1969, the authoritarian leader has named the prince his successor as the Spanish leader. Crowned after Franco’s death in 1975, Juan Carlos I launched the process of Spain’s democratization. In 1977, Spain has held its first post-Franco democratic election to the Parliament, and, the following year, a new Constitution was adopted, defining Spain as a constitutional monarchy.
Juan Carlos has strongly opposed the attempt of a right-wing military coup in 1981, publicly pledging his alliance to the democratic government. Since the event, bringing the king applause even from communist camp, Juan Carlos has abandoned active intervention in the country’s politics.
Over the following period of time, Juan Carlos has been providing support for Spain’s struggle for liberal reforms under the leadership of Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), which has made it possible for Spain to become a member-state of NATO in 1982 and European Economic Community in 1986. He formally remained the head of the country and the Commander-in-Chief of Spanish army.
Retaining a great moral authority, Juan Carlos has made comments on various burning issues of Spanish social and political life. He has approved the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2005. During an incident on 2007 Ibero-American Summit, the king told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to “shut up” in response to him referring to Spain’s former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a fascist. Later on, Juan Carlos has left the same event in anger over Nicaraguan leader’s claims that Spain intervened in his country’s elections.
Juan Carlos’ latest appearances in the world headlines before his Monday’s demise have been mostly scandalous. His daughter Princess Cristina and her husband are targets in the large-scale corruption and tax fraud inquiry.
Also, in 2012 the media have revealed that amid a severe economic situation in Spain, with the unemployment rate rocketing to the level of 23%, the king went for a luxurious elephant hunting trip in the African republic of Botswana worth €44,000.
Although Spanish taxpayers did not bear any expenses for the visit, the move has triggered vast criticism at home with many accusing Juan Carlos of lack of solidarity with the distressful financial state of many Spanish people. The king was also dismissed from the position of Spanish WWF department’s honorary president. Later he has apologized for the incident.
