Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Consolidating — and Defending — Democracy

  • Chapter
Juan Carlos of Spain

Part of the book series: St Antony’s Series ((STANTS))

  • 23 Accesses

Abstract

During the next few years the king was to make a substantial contribution to the consolidation of the democratic system he had done so much to bring about. Above all, he would play a decisive role in inducing the armed forces to accept some of the more visible consequences of the change of regime, and in particular the process of decentralisation that was to lead to the creation of a semi-federal state. Unfortunately this process was accompanied by an escalation of terrorist violence largely aimed at provoking the armed forces into some form of military intervention, which eventually took place in February 1981.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes and Reference

  1. Gutiérrez Mellado, Un soldado, pp. 107–8.

    Google Scholar 

  2. El País, 11 May 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  3. In October 1977 Milans had been removed from the Brunete armoured division, which was fast becoming an ‘ultra’ stronghold, and appointed captain-general of the Third Military Region, based in Valencia.

    Google Scholar 

  4. ABC, 26 December 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  5. ABC, 21 February 1980. Il Messagero, 22 March 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  6. El País, 25 April 1980; Fraga, En busca, pp. 201–2.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Urbano, Con la venia, yo indagué el 23F, pp. 38–40.

    Google Scholar 

  8. El País, 1 May 1980; ABC, 15 June 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Prieto and Barbería, El enigma del ‘Elefante’, p. 85; Vilallonga, The king, p. 125. In November Juan Carlos received a report compiled by the secret service, CESID, which outlined the various initiatives currently under way, aimed at dislodging Suárez by both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary means. See ‘Panorámica de las operaciones en marcha’, reproduced in Prieto and Barbería, El enigma, pp. 280–93.

    Google Scholar 

  10. For Múgica’s version, see El País, 13 March 1981; Armada, Al servicio, pp. 223–4; Prieto and Barbería, El enigma, pp. 92–6; Oneto, La noche de Tejero, p. 16; Antich, El virrey, pp. 83–5.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Fraga, En busca, pp. 223–4; Urbano, Con la venia, pp. 41–2; Carrillo, Memorias, p. 710; Semprun, Federico Sánchez se despide de ustedes, pp. 192–94.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Armada, who was at La Zarzuela on 18 December, claims to have been shown a draft of the Christmas speech by the king, but does not explain for what purpose. Armada, Al servicio, p. 225.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Suárez/Toledo.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Armada, Al servicio, p. 230; Merino and Segura, Jaque al Rey, p. 57–8. Armada had already discussed the king’s views with Milans on 17 November.

    Google Scholar 

  15. ABC, 7 January 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Suárez/Toledo; Urbano, Con la venia, pp. 52–4.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Meliá, Así cayó Adolfo Suarez, pp. 75–6; Calvo Sotelo, Memoria viva, pp. 23–32; De la Cierva, Retratos, pp. 305–7; Suárez/Toledo.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Suárez/Toledo. Unlike Arias, in the wake of his resignation the Duke of Suárez made full use of his title, to the extent of having his shirts embroidered with a ducal crown.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Author’s interview with Suárez. Martín Villa, Al servicio, p. 116. Vilallonga, The king, p. 124.

    Google Scholar 

  20. El País, 6 February 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  21. The book in question was Cernuda, Oneto, Pi and Ramirez, To do un Rey. Oneto, Los últimos dias de un presidente, pp. 174–8.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Fraga, En busca, p. 298.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Suárez/Toledo; Armada, Al servicio, pp. 231–3.

    Google Scholar 

  24. After the coup Armada requested the king’s permission to use the contents of their conversation of 13 February in his defence, but was turned down. Armada, Al servicio, pp. 154, 230, 234–5; Gutiérrez Mellado/Toledo.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Author’s interviews with Alfaro Arregui and Robles Piquer; Vilallonga, The king, p. 133.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Author’s interview with Fernández Campo. Vilallonga, The king, pp. 127–28.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Vilallonga, The king, p. 119.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Urbano, Con la venia, yo indagué el 23F, p. 251.

    Google Scholar 

  29. According to Juan Carlos, ‘if I had wanted to carry out an operation “in the king’s name” but without his consent, the first thing I’d have thought of doing would have been to isolate him from everyone’. Vilallonga, The king, p. 131. This, however, would have rendered Armada’s plan inviable, since its success largely depended on the king’s consent.

    Google Scholar 

  30. In the wake of the coup, a direct link was set up between La Zarzuela and TVE, enabling royal messages to be relayed directly.

    Google Scholar 

  31. El País, 24 February 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Vilallonga, The king, pp. 134–5.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Carrillo, Memoria, pp. 716–17; author’s interview with Suárez.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Carrillo, Memoria, p. 718; Vilallonga, The king, pp. 145–6; Fraga, En busca, p. 235.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Vilallonga, The king, p. 178.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Since 1984 the official Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas has conducted an annual study on the level of support enjoyed by Spain’s major political institutions. The proportion of those who agree with the statment that ‘the king, by stopping the coup of 23 February 1981, won the respect of Spanish democrats’ has never fallen below 80 per cent.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Vilallonga, The king, p. 112.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Author’s interview with Calvo Sotelo. Nevertheless, on one occasion the latter is said to have reprimanded the king for leaving the country without informing him. Fuente, El caballo cansado, p. 240.

    Google Scholar 

  39. ABC, 6 March 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Author’s interview with Calvo Sotelo.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Author’s interviews with Oreja and Calvo Sotelo. Nourry, Un Rey, p. 309. A facsimile of this letter is reproduced in Andrew and Gordievsky, Instructions from the Centre, pp. 147–51.

    Google Scholar 

  42. ABC, 7 January 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  43. According to Juan Carlos, Milans del Bosch ‘was the victim of subtle poisoning of the mind more than anything else’. Vilallonga, The king, pp. 118, 123. When the general’s father died in February 1983, the king, Don Juan, Mondéjar and Fernández Campo all sent him their condolences. Their telegrams are reproduced in Merino and Segura, Jaque al Rey, p. 217. Juan Carlos described Armada as a traitor in the original (French) text of his conversations with Vilallonga, a reference that was removed from the English and Spanish versions.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Vilallonga, The king, p. 3. Il Messagero, 22 March 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  45. El País, 28 October 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  46. El País, 26 November 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Peces-Barba, La elaboración, p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Charles Powell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 1996 Charles Powell

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Powell, C. (1996). Consolidating — and Defending — Democracy. In: Juan Carlos of Spain. St Antony’s Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24423-2_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24423-2_8

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-333-64929-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-24423-2

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation