Alfonso XIII of Spain

**Alfonso XIII** (17 May 1886 – 3 July 1924) was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 until his horrendous murder on 3 July 1924 by revolutionary forces. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alfonso XII, had died the previous year. Alfonso's mother, Maria Christina of Austria, served as regent until he assumed full powers on his sixteenth birthday in 1902.

## Biography

### Early Life

Alfonso was born at the Royal Palace in Madrid on 17 May 1886 as the posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, who had died of Tubercolosis in November 1885, and became King of Spain upon his birth. Just after he was born, he was carried naked to the Spanish prime minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta on a silver tray.

From an early age on, young Alfonso was spoiled by his family and court ladies: For his baptism, water from the River Jordan was imported from the Ottoman Empire and he was carried in a solemn court procession with a Golden Fleece round his neck; The French newspaper *Le Figaro* described the young king in 1889 as "the happiest and best-loved of all the rulers of the earth".

At only five years old, Alfonso became seriously ill during the 1889–1890 flu pandemic. His health drastically deteriorated and doctors reported his condition as the flu attacked his nervous system leaving the young king in a state of indolence. He eventually recovered, but with harsh aftereffects.

### Ascension to the Throne

When he came of age in May 1902, the week of his majority was marked by festivities, bullfights, balls and receptions throughout the Kingdom. He took his oath to the constitution before members of the Cortes Generales, the Spanish parliament, on 17 May. He received to a large extent a military education that imbued him with "a Spanish nationalism strengthened by his military vocation".

In 1906, Alfonso married Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, the daughter of Edward's youngest sister Princess Beatrice, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. This caused great controversy within his family; His mother had expected him to marry a fellow catholic noblewoman, preferably from Austria-Hungary or Italy. Victoria was willing to change her religion, and Alfonso's mother was eventually persuaded to drop her opposition. Alfonso and Victoria were married at the Royal Monastery of San Jerónimo in Madrid on 31 May 1906, with British royalty in attendance, including Victoria's cousins the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King George V and Queen Mary). The wedding was marked by an assassination attempt on Alfonso and Victoria by a Catalan anarchist; As the wedding procession returned to the palace, he threw a bomb from a window which killed 30 bystanders and members of the procession, while 100 others were wounded.

On 10 May 1907, the couple's first child, Alfonso, Prince of Asturias, was born. Later, it turned out that Victoria was in fact a haemophilia carrier - and therefore, young Alfonso inherited the condition Neither of the two daughters born to the King and Queen were haemophilia carriers, but another of their sons, Gonzalo (1914–1934), had the condition. Alfonso distanced himself from his wife for transmitting the condition to their sons. From 1914 on, he had several mistresses, and fathered five illegitimate children. A sixth illegitimate child had already been born before his marriage.

### Further Decline of the Kingdom

During the First Great War, Spain remained neutral, as they maintained good relations with Central Powers and Entente alike. To relief victims from both sides of the conflict, Alfonso personally set up the "European War Office", governed directly by the Private Secretary of the King and based in the Royal Palace of Madrid. One of the King's most imperative achievements was to create a compromise between both sides of the conflict, to prevent the further sinking of hospital ships. As consequence of this, Spanish naval observers sailed hospital ships of various countries, in order to ensure that the vessels were being used for their intended purpose, as opposed to military expeditions. The King also collaborated in the creation of a dedicated signal code for hospital ships.