Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (
Alfonso Pio Cristino Eduardo Francisco Guillermo Carlos Enrique Eugenio Fernando Antonio Venancio Borbón y Battenberg (
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
, 10 May 1907 – Miami,
Miami-Dade CountyMiami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the county population was 2,387,170 in 2007, making it the most populous county in Florida and the ninth most populous county in the United States...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
, 6 September 1938), was an Infant of Spain and the heir-apparent of the throne of Spain 1907–1931.
Alfonso was the eldest child of the then-reigning king
Alfonso XIII of Spainalign=right|Alfonso XIII , King of Spain, posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, was proclaimed King at his birth. He reigned from 1886-1931...
and his wife
Victoria Eugenia of BattenbergPrincess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg was queen consort of King Alfonso XIII of Spain. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. The current King of Spain, Juan Carlos, is her grandson.-Early life:Victoria Eugenie was born on 24 October 1887 at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland...
. He inherited the genetic disorder hemophilia from his maternal line.
Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (
Alfonso Pio Cristino Eduardo Francisco Guillermo Carlos Enrique Eugenio Fernando Antonio Venancio Borbón y Battenberg (
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
, 10 May 1907 – Miami,
Miami-Dade CountyMiami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the county population was 2,387,170 in 2007, making it the most populous county in Florida and the ninth most populous county in the United States...
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
, 6 September 1938), was an Infant of Spain and the heir-apparent of the throne of Spain 1907–1931.
Alfonso was the eldest child of the then-reigning king
Alfonso XIII of Spainalign=right|Alfonso XIII , King of Spain, posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, was proclaimed King at his birth. He reigned from 1886-1931...
and his wife
Victoria Eugenia of BattenbergPrincess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg was queen consort of King Alfonso XIII of Spain. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. The current King of Spain, Juan Carlos, is her grandson.-Early life:Victoria Eugenie was born on 24 October 1887 at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland...
. He inherited the genetic disorder hemophilia from his maternal line. He was a matrilineal great-grandson of
Victoria of the United KingdomVictoria was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India of the British Raj from 1 May 1876, until her death...
. He and his youngest brother, Gonzalo were kept in specially-tailored jackets to prevent bloody accidents.
He was the 1,120th
KnightA knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
of the
Order of the Golden FleeceNOT to be confused with the Golden Fleece Award.The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges in 1430 by Duke Philip III of Burgundy to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Isabel of Aviz.- Origin :...
in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
in 1907.
His father, Alfonso XIII faced increasing political problems that led Spain to become a Republic in 1931 and the monarch was deposed. They moved into exile.
There had been plans of young Alfonso's deposition from succession, but ultimately he himself renounced his rights to the then-defunct throne to marry a commoner, Edelmira Ignacia Adriana Sampedro-Robato, in
OuchyOuchy is a commune, port, and popular lakeside resort located south of the city of Lausanne in Switzerland at the edge of the Lake Léman ....
on 21 June 1933, after which Alfonso took the courtesy title
Count of CovadongaCovadonga is a village and one of eleven parishes in Cangas de Onís, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in northwestern Spain. It is situated in the Picos de Europa mountains.-History:In 722 AD, Iberian Christians won the battle over the Moors in Covadonga...
. (This was required by the regulations for the succession set by the Pragmatic Sanction of Carlos III.)
They divorced 8 May 1937. He married
Marta Ester Rocafort-AltazarraMarta Ester Rocafort y Altazarra, later hyphenated Rocafort-Altazarra was the second wife of the Count of Covadonga ....
in
HavanaHavana is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city is one of the 14 Cuban provinces. The city/province has 2.4 million inhabitants, and the urban area over 3.7 million, making Havana the largest city in both Cuba and the Caribbean region...
on 3 July 1937. They divorced on 8 January 1938. He had no issue by either of them. A
car accidentA traffic collision is when a road vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, or geographical or architectural obstacle. Traffic collisions can result in injury, property damage, and death.- Terminology :...
led to his early death in 1938, at the age of 31. He crashed into a
telephone boothA telephone booth, telephone kiosk, or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. Such a booth usually has a door to provide privacy and a window to let others know if the booth is in use...
and appeared to have minor injuries but his hemophilia led to fatal internal bleeding. He was initially entombed at Woodlawn Park Cemetery and Mausoleum (now
Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Park North Cemetery and MausoleumCaballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum is one of the oldest cemeteries in Miami, Florida.In 1913, Thomas O. Wilson, William N. Urmey and Clifton D. Benson established Woodlawn Park Cemetery...
) in Miami, Florida and was in 1985 re-entombed in the Pantheon of the Princes in
El EscorialEl Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and school...
. His first wife was allowed to retain the title Countess of Covadonga and was present when he was re-entombed.
His predecessor was his late aunt
Mercedes, Princess of AsturiasInfanta María de las Mercedes of Spain , Princess of the Asturias, for all 24 years of her life the Heiress Presumptive of the Spanish Royal Crown, and for a period in 1885 – 1886, the extant Head of the State of Spain, was born as Doña María de las...
who deceased 3 years before Alfonso's birth; in practice, Alfonso's predecessor as first heir to Spain was his first cousin, Mercedes' son, the Infante Alfonso of the Two Sicilies.
His successor technically was his next brother, Jaime, Duke of Segovia who did not receive the Asturias title. Jaime's own renunciation took place soon. In practice (but not titularly) the next heir-apparent of claims to Spanish throne was Alfonso's younger brother don
Juan de Borbon, Count of BarcelonaThe Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona English: , was the third surviving son and designated heir of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, the monarch replaced by the Second Spanish Republic,...
. Alfonso's nephew, the Infante Juan Carlos of Spain (the King Juan Carlos) was granted the official title Prince of Spain, not that of Asturias in 1969 by
Francisco FrancoFrancisco Franco Bahamonde, commonly known as Francisco Franco , or simply Franco, was a military general and dictator of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975...
.
The next member of the Spanish royal family to be officially invested with the title Principe de Asturias was
Felipe, Prince of AsturiasFelipe, Prince of Asturias , is the third child and only son of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain...
, Alfonso's grandnephew, in 1977.
Ancestry
Sources
- TIME, 12 June 1933
- EL NUEVO HERALD, 23 May 2004
- EL MUNDO, 2 July 1994
External links
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