King Juan Carlos Trivia Quiz

Answer: January 5th 1938

He was named Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor Maria de Borbon y Borbon. His father was Juan de Borbon and his mother Dona Maria de las Mercedes de Borbon y Orleans. Alfonso XIII, the king deposed in 1931, was his grandfather. The King's birthday is celebrated as a military holiday in Spain.

Answer: True

He was born in Rome, as the Royal Family were living there at that time. They had left Spain when the Republic was proclaimed in 1931. Juan Carlos first visited Spain aged 10, and was educated there, as his father wished. He attended the San Isidro school in Madrid and then the Academies and Military Colleges of the Army, Navy and Air Force, completing his studies at Madrid's Complutense University. General Franco approved of Juan Carlos being in the military, as an eye could be kept on him, thus enabling Franco to declare him a suitable successor.

Answer: in a shooting accident

Juan Carlos was the second of four children, the youngest of whom died in 1956. He was shot in an accident to which Juan Carlos was the only witness. It is not known who fired the gun that led to the tragic shooting of the young Infante, who was 15 at the time of the accident.

Answer: Princess Sofia of Greece

Princess Sofia, the eldest daughter of King Paul I and Queen Frederika married Juan Carlos on 14th May 1962, at the Church of Saint Dyonisius in Athens. Descendants of England's famous Queen Victoria, so their guest list read like the who's who of the crowned heads of Europe - King Olav V of Norway, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, to name but a few.

This ceremony was followed by an Orthodox ceremony, held in the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral of the Virgin Mary, and then a civil ceremony was held in the royal palace.

Answer: 1975

In 1969 he was named as future successor to Franco, and he became King on the death of Franco on 22nd November 1975. He also claims the title King of Jerusalem, as the successor to the royal family of Naples. The kingdom of Jerusalem ended with the fall of Acre in 1291, but various claims have been made to the title of King since then, by the house of Savoy, heirs of the royal family of Cyprus.

Answer: There was an attempted coup.

The Cortes was seized by a group of pro-Franco military officers led by Colonel Tejero and there was gunfire in the parliamentary chamber. The whole process of establishing a new constitution and the acknowledgement of Juan Carlos as the legitimate heir to the Spanish throne was put into jeopardy.

The King, however, saved the day by making a television broadcast calling for support for the government. He also personally called senior military figures in Spain and told them that they must stand with him at this dangerous time.

He proved wrong those who nicknamed him Juan Carlos the Brief!

Answer: 3

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia had three children, the Infanta Elena, born in 1963, the Infanta Cristina, born in 1965, and the Heir Apparent, Prince Felipe, born in 1968.

Answer: La Zarzuela Palace

After their honeymoon, which started on the island of Corfu and then took them around the world, Juan Carlos and Sofia went to live at La Zarzuela Palace, in the mountains of El Pardo, just north of Madrid. They liked it so much that they remained there. The palace was constructed in the 17th century by King Philip IV and was named for the zarza bushes that surround the property.

Answer: False

Henry Kissinger was awarded the Charlemagne Prize in 1987; Juan Carlos was awarded it in 1982. More recent winners are Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. The prize was established in 1949 to recognize contributions to European unity, by a merchant from Aachen. Dr. Kurt Pfeiffer established an Aachen Prize, to help work towards the unification of Western Europe in the post war era, awarding the prize to someone who had performed some outstanding service for Europe.

It has become a political award now, although not all winners of the prize are politicians.

Answer: Felipe

The Infanta Elena and her husband Jaime de Marichalar had their first child, Felipe Juan Frolian, in 1998 and a daughter, Victoria Federica Eugenia in 2000. Juan Valentin, Pablo Nicolas and Miguel are the sons of the Infanta Cristina and her husband Inaki Urdangarin, born in 1999, 2000 and 2002 respectively.

Although I have used several web sites in the compilation of this quiz, the site of the Spanish Royal Family (www.casareal.es) was especially useful.