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Juan Carlos I of Spain
From Wikipedia, the free
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Juan Carlos I, King of Spain
(baptized as Juan Alfonso
Carlos Víctor María de Borbón y
Borbón-Dos Sicilias) was
born on
January 5,
1938 in
Rome and is the reigning
King of Spain (Rey de
España).
On
22 November
1975, two days after the
death of
Francisco Franco, Juan
Carlos was designated King
according to the law of
succession promulgated by
Franco. He successfully oversaw
the
transition of
Spain to a
democratic constitutional
monarchy. For passing on
personal power to democratize
the country, he is widely
revered by Spaniards.
Juan Carlos' titles include that
of
King of Jerusalem, as
successor to the royal family of
Naples. He is also a direct
descendant of Queen
Victoria of the United Kingdom
through his grandmother,
Victoria Eugenie; of
Louis XIV of France through
the
House of Bourbon; of the
Emperor Charles V, who
belonged to the
Habsburg dynasty of the
Holy Roman Empire; of the
House of Savoy of
Italy; etc.
His name, when rarely
anglicised, is rendered as
John Alphonse Charles Victor
Maria of Bourbon (and
Bourbon-Two Sicilies). He
was given these names after his
father (Juan de Borbon),
grandfather (Alfonso XIII) and
maternal grandfather (Prince
Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies).
Early
Life
Juan Carlos was born as son of
H.R.H. Infante Don
Juan de Borbon (Count
of Barcelona), son of
Alfonso XIII of Spain, and
Princess
Maria Mercedes of
Bourbon-Orleans. He has one
older sibling, a sister,
Infanta Pilar, and two
younger ones,
Infanta Margarita, and the
late
Infante Alfonso. He was
baptised by
Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli,
the future Pope Pius XII.
The future King's early life was
dictated largely by the
political concerns of his father
and Franco. He moved to Spain in
1948 to be
educated there after his
father persuaded Franco to allow
this. He began his studies in
San Sebastián and finished
them in 1954 at the San Isidro
Institute in
Madrid. He then joined the
army, undergoing officer
training from 1955-1957 in
Zaragoza.
In 1956, when Juan Carlos was
18, he reportedly shot and
killed his younger brother,
Infante Alfonso, in a
gunplay accident after returning
home from Mass. This event
occurred in the family residence
in
Estoril,
Portugal (reference:
Preston).
Starting in 1957, he spent a
year in the
naval school at
Pontevedra and another in
the
air force school in
San Javier in
Murcia. In 1961, he
graduated from the
Complutense University,
majoring in Political and
International Law, Economics and
Public Administration. He then
went to live to the
Zarzuela Palace, and began
carrying out official duties.
'Prince of Spain', 1969-1975
The
King's Coat of Arms
The regime of
Francisco Franco had come to
power during the
Spanish Civil War, which had
pitted
republicans and
socialists against
conservatives, monarchists, and
fascists, with the latter
group ultimately emerging
successful. Despite his alliance
with monarchists, Franco was not
eager to restore the deposed
Spanish monarchy once in power,
preferring to head a regime with
himself as
head of state for life.
Though Franco's partisan
supporters generally accepted
this arrangement for the
present, much debate quickly
ensued over who would replace
Franco when he died. Monarchist
factions demanded the return of
a hard-line
absolute monarchy, and
eventually Franco agreed that
his successor would be a
monarch.
The heir to the throne of Spain
was
Juan de Borbón (Count of
Barcelona), the son of the
late
Alfonso XIII. However,
Franco viewed the heir with
extreme suspicion, believing him
to be a
liberal who was opposed to
his regime. Franco then
considered giving the throne to
Juan Carlos's cousin (and proven
Francoist)
Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz,
who had married Franco's
granddaughter in 1972. In
response, Juan Carlos started to
use his second name
Carlos to assert his
claim to the heritage of the
Carlist branch of his
family.
Ultimately, Franco decided to
skip a generation and name
Prince Juan Carlos as his
personal successor. Franco hoped
the young Prince could be
groomed to take over the nation
while still maintaining the
ultra-conservative nature of his
regime. In 1969, Juan Carlos was
officially designated heir and
was given the new title of
Prince of Spain (not the
traditional
Prince of Asturias).
Juan Carlos met and consulted
with Franco many times while
heir apparent and often
performed official and
ceremonial state functions
alongside the dictator, much to
the anger of hard-line
republicans and more moderate
liberals, who had hoped that
Franco's death would bring in an
era of reform. During those
years, Juan Carlos publicly
supported Franco's regime.
However, as the years
progressed, Juan Carlos began
meeting with political
opposition leaders and exiles,
who were fighting to bring
liberal reform to the country.
Franco, for his part, remained
largely oblivious to the
prince's actions and denied
allegations that Juan Carlos was
in any way disloyal to his
vision of the regime.
During periods of Franco's
temporary incapacity in 1973 and
1975 Juan Carlos was
acting head of state. Near
death, on
30 October
1975, Franco gave full
control to Juan Carlos. On
22 November, upon Franco´s
death, the
Cortes Generales proclaimed
Juan Carlos King of Spain and on
November 27, Juan Carlos
ascended the Spanish throne with
an anointing ceremony called
Holy Spirit Mass which was
the equivalent to a coronation
at the Jerónimos Church in
Madrid.
Restoration
of the monarchy
After
Franco's death, Juan Carlos I
quickly instituted
democratic reforms, to the
great displeasure of
fascist and
conservative (monarchist)
elements, especially in the
military, who had expected him
to maintain the authoritarian
state. He appointed
Adolfo Suárez, a former
leader of the
Movimiento Nacional, as
Prime Minister of Spain.
On
20 May
1977, the leader of the
only-recently legalized
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
(PSOE)
Felipe González, accompanied
by
Javier Solana, visited Juan
Carlos in the Zarzuela Palace.
The event represented a key
endorsement of the monarchy from
Spain's political
left, who had been
historically
republican. Left-wing
support for the monarchy grew
when the
Communist Party of Spain was
legalized shortly thereafter, a
move Juan Carlos had pressed
for, despite enormous right-wing
military opposition at that
time, during the
Cold War.
On
15 June 1977, Spain held its
first post-Franco democratic
elections. In 1978, a new
Constitution was promulgated
that acknowledged Juan Carlos as
rightful heir of the Spanish
dynasty and King. This
language justified Juan Carlos'
position by deeming him
Head of State of a
democratic, historical monarchy,
and not simply the appointed
heir of the dictator Franco. The
Constitution was passed by the
democratically elected Cortes
Generales, ratified by the
people in a referendum and then
signed into law by the King
before a solemn meeting of the
Cortes.
Further legitimacy had been
restored to Juan Carlos´
position on
14 May 1977, when his
father, Don Juan (whom many
monarchists had recognized as
the legitimate, exiled King of
Spain during the Franco era),
formally renounced his claim to
the Throne and recognized his
son as the sole head of the
Spanish Royal House,
transferring to him the
historical heritage of the
Spanish monarchy, thus making
Juan Carlos both the de facto
and the de jure
(rightful) King in the eyes of
the traditional monarchists.
Juan Carlos, who was already
King since Franco's death, gave
an acceptance address after his
father’s resignation speech and
thanked him by confirming the
title of
Count of Barcelona that Don
Juan had assumed in exile.
Under the new 1978 Constitution
Juan Carlos relinquished
absolute power and became a
reigning but non-ruling monarch.
The reforms of these years
attracted considerable animosity
from the armed forces, which
ultimately culminated in an
attempted military coup on
23 February
1981, in which the
Cortes was seized by members
of the
Guardia Civil in the
parliamentary chamber (see
23-F). According to the
widely accepted version, the
coup ended up being thwarted by
the public television broadcast
by the King, calling for
unambiguous support for the
legitimate democratic
government. In the hours before
his speech, he had personally
called many senior military
figures to tell them that he was
opposed to the coup, and that
they must defend the democratic
government. However, some
authors (like Ronald Hilton)
cast doubt over the King's role
in the events. According to the
explanation offered by Patricia
Sverlo, author of a biography of
Juan Carlos, the coup was
actually organized by the
Spanish establishment to
neutralize the risk of a real
coup by the army, moderate the
left wingers' reformist demands,
and increase Juan Carlos's
popularity.
When Juan Carlos became king,
Communist leader
Santiago Carrillo nicknamed
him Juan Carlos the Brief,
predicting that the monarchy
would be swept away with the
other remnants of the Franco
era. After the collapse of the
attempted coup mentioned above,
in an emotional statement,
Carrillo told television viewers
"God save the King". The
Communist leader also remarked:
"Today, we are all monarchists".
If public support for the
monarchy among democrats and
leftists prior to 1981 was
limited, following the King's
handling of the coup, it became
notably wider. According to a
poll by "Sigma Dos" published in
the newspaper
El Mundo in November
2005, 77.5% of Spaniards thought
Juan Carlos was "good or very
good," 15.4% "not so good," and
only 7.1% "bad or very bad."
Role
in contemporary Spanish politics
King Juan Carlos I, depicted on
the Spanish €2 coin
The election of socialist leader
Felipe González to the
Spanish prime ministership in
1982 marked the effective end of
Juan Carlos' active involvement
in Spanish politics. González
would govern for over a decade,
and his administration helped
consolidate the democratic gains
initiated by Juan Carlos and
thus maintained the stability of
the nation. Today the King
exercises little real power over
the country's
politics, but is regarded as
an essential symbol of the
country's unity. Unlike many
other European monarchs, under
the constitution, the King has
immunity from prosecution in
matters relating to his official
duties. This is so because every
act of the King as such (and not
as a citizen) needs to be
undersigned by a government
official, thus making the
undersigner responsible instead
of the king. He gives an annual
speech to the nation on
Christmas Eve. He is the
commander-in-chief of the
Spanish armed forces. He does
however have informal powers
such as giving speeches. This
has been known to cause trouble
when he spoke in order to see
the handing back of
Gibraltar in
1991 at the
United Nations General
Assembly, during which he
described the issue as an
unresolved colonial problem
which affects Spain's territoral
integrity.
In 1979, King Juan Carlos I
instituted the
Ruta de Quetzal as a way to
promote cultural exchange
between students from Spain and
Latin America. In 1987, he
became the first King of Spain
to visit the former Spanish
possession of
Puerto Rico.
The King with a Clout
Although King Juan Carlos
voluntarily relinquished his
absolute rule through the
promulgation of the Spanish
Constitution, among contemporay
monarchs in Europe he is said to
have more power in the field of
governance. Indeed, he still
maintains quite a bit of power
in contemporary Spanish
politics, although more by means
of personal influence than
because of de jure
powers.
Family
and private life
Juan
Carlos was married in
Athens on
14 May
1962, to HRH
Princess Sophia of Greece and
Denmark, daughter of
King Paul. She was
Greek Orthodox but converted
to
Roman Catholicism in order
to become Spain's Queen. They
had two daughters,
Elena and
Cristina, and a son, the
heir apparent,
Felipe.
In 1972, Juan Carlos, a keen
sailor, competed in the
Dragon class event at the
Olympic Games, though he did
not win any medals. In their
summer holidays, the whole
family meets in Marivent Palace
(Palma
de Mallorca), where they
take part in sailing
competitions. In winter, they
used to go
skiing in
Baqueira-Beret and
Candanchú (Pyrenees).
In August 2006, it is alleged
that Juan Carlos shot a drunken
tame bear during a private
hunting trip to Russia. The
office of the Spanish Monarchy
denies these claims, which are
made by Russian regional
authorities.
[1]
Juan Carlos speaks several
languages. With the Queen he
speaks English. He does not,
however, speak his wife's native
tongue, Greek, a fact he
regrets. Besides
Spanish, Juan Carlos speaks
fluent
English,
French,
Italian,
Portuguese and
Catalan.
Juan Carlos is an
amateur radio operator, call
sign EA0JC.
Titles
The
Standard of the King of
Spain
King Juan Carlos I is a direct
descendant of many famous
European rulers, such as
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
(who as Carlos I of Aragon and
Castile is said to have been the
first King of Spain),
King Louis XIV of France and
Queen Victoria of the United
Kingdom. Therefore, he is
related to all the current
monarchs of Europe.
The current Spanish constitution
refers to the monarchy as "the
crown of Spain" and the
constitutional title of the
monarch is simply rey/reina
de España: that is,
"king/queen of Spain". However,
the constitution allows for the
use of other historic titles
pertaining to the Spanish
monarchy, without specifying
them. A decree promulgated
6 November
1987 at the Council of
Ministers regulates the titles
further, and on that basis the
monarch of Spain has a right to
use ("may use") those other
titles appertaining to the
Crown. Contrary to some belief,
the long titulary that contains
the list of over 20 kingdoms,
etc., is not in state use, nor
is it used in Spanish diplomacy.
In fact, it has never been in
use in that form, as "Spain" was
never a part of the list in
pre-1837 era when the long list
was officially used.
Spain, unmentioned in titulary
for more than three centuries,
was
symbolized by the long list
that started "...of Castile,
Leon, Aragon,..." - The
following long titulary in the
feudal style was the last used
officially in 1836 by
Isabella II of Spain (see
the account of titulary in her
article) before she became
constitutional queen:
Juan Carlos I is titled or
styled:
Juan Carlos I, King of
Spain, King of
Castile, King of
León, King of
Aragon, King of the
Two Sicilies, King of
Jerusalem, King of
Navarre, King of
Granada, King of
Toledo, King of
Valencia, King of
Galicia, King of
Sardinia, King of
Cordoba, King of
Corsica, King of
Murcia, King of
Jaen, King of
Algeciras, King of the
Canary Islands, King of the
Philippine Islands, King of
the Spanish
East and
West Indies and of the
Islands and
Mainland of the Ocean Sea,
Archduke of Austria,
Duke of Burgundy,
Duke of Brabant,
Duke of Milan,
Duke of Athens and
Neopatria, Count of
Habsburg,
Count of Flanders, Count of
Tyrol,
Count of Roussillon,
Count of Barcelona, Lord of
Biscay, Lord of
Molina, General Captain of
the Royal Armed Forces and its
Supreme Commander, Sovereign
Grand Master of the Celebrated
Order of the Golden Fleece
(Spain), Grand Master of the
Royal & Distinguished Order of
Charles III (Spain), Grand
Master of the
Royal Order of Isabelle, the
Catholic (Spain), Grand
Master of the
Royal & Military Order of St.
Hermenegildo (Spain), Grand
Master of the
Royal & Military Order of St.
Fernando (Spain), Grand
Master of the
Order of Montesa (Spain),
Grand Master of the
Order of Alcántara (Spain),
Grand Master of the
Order of Calatrava (Spain),
Grand Master of the
Order of Santiago (Spain),
Grand Master of the
Order of Maria Luisa
(Spain), Grand Master of other
Military Orders
§
Knight of the
Order of the Anunciada
(Italy)
§
Knight of the
Order of the Garter (United
Kingdom)
§
Knight of the
The Royal Norwegian Order of St.
Olav (Norway)
§
Knight of the
Royal Order of the Seraphim
(Sweden)
§
Bailio Grand Cross of Justice
with Necklace of the
Order of Constantino and George
of
Greece.
§
Bailio Grand Cross of Honour and
Devotion of the Sovereign
Military Order of Malta
§
Grand Cordon of the
Supreme Order of the
Chrysanthemum of
Japan
§
Grand Necklace of the Dynasty of
Reza of
Iran
§
Grand Cross of the
Legion of Honour
§
Grand Cross of the
National Order of Merit.
The first king to officially use
the name Spain as the realm in
the titulary was
Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte,
brother of Emperor
Napoleon, who used King
of
the Spains and the Indias;
the present Spanish monarch is
not his heir. The Bourbons
returned to the feudal format
(...of Castile, Leon,
Aragon,...) until 1837, when the
short version "queen of the
Spains" was taken into use. The
singular Spain was first
used by
Amadeo - he was "by divine
grace and will of nation, king
of Spain"; the present Spanish
monarch is not his heir, either.
Alfonso XII, when restored,
started to use "constitutional
king of Spain, by divine and
constitutional grace". Juan
Carlos uses simply "king of
Spain", without any divine,
national or constitutional
reference. He also claims to
have the title of King of
Gibraltar, but for
diplomatic reasons is not used,
despite his other titles'
flagrant disrespect for multiple
sovereignties.
Juan Carlos also may have a
legitimate claim to de jure
Emperor of the Romans (basileus,
kaisar autokrator ton Rhomaion)
as he is descended from and is
the successor of
Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Ferdinand received these rights
as de jure
Roman Emperor by the last
will and testament of the
ultimate
Palaiologos claimant of the
Byzantine Empire,
Andreas Palaiologus (d.
1503), a nephew of the
Emperor Constantine XI, who
was the last to actually reign
in
Constantinople and was
killed in 1453. Others
potentially entitled to the same
rights are (1)
Alice, Duchess of Calabria
as the
heir-general of king
Ferdinand II, (2)
Louis-Alphonse, Duke of Anjou,
as the
heir-male of
Maria Theresa of Spain,
great-great-great-great-granddaughter
of king Ferdinand II, who
brought the Aragonese succession
to the Bourbons; and (3)
Otto von Habsburg, Archduke
of Austria,
Semi-Salic heir-male of
Ferdinand II (Ferdinand left
only daughters; the male line of
his eldest surviving daughter
Joanna went extinct in 1741 with
Emperor Charles VI and the next
line started from Maria Theresa
of Austria, surviving today).
This, of course, presumes that
Andreas had any rights of which
to dispose: there exist heirs to
other Byzantine imperial lines
as well.
Other
honors
He has been the
recipient of numerous honorary
degrees, including from
University of Santo Tomas,
Philippines,
Southern Methodist University
(where, in 2001, he formally
opened the
Meadows Museum, housing the
largest collection of Spanish
art outside Spain), and
St. Mary's University, Texas.
Juan Carlos also has received
honorary Doctor of Laws degrees
from New York University, and
University of Utrecht, the
Netherlands (25 October 2001)
[2]. In 1997, NYU opened the
King Juan Carlos I of Spain
Center (to promote research and
teaching on Spain and the
Spanish-speaking world) in the
historic Judson Hall and
adjacent buildings on Washington
Square in New York City. He is
also a member of the
Sons of the American Revolution
organization.
[3]
|
Persondata |
|
NAME |
Juan Carlos I |
|
ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Carlos Alfonso Víctor
María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos
Sicilias, Juan (full
name); Charles Alphonse
Victor Maria of Bourbon
(and Bourbon-Two
Sicilies), John (Anglicisation) |
|
SHORT DESCRIPTION |
King of Spain |
|
DATE OF BIRTH |
5 January
1938 |
|
PLACE OF BIRTH |
Rome,
Italy |
|
DATE OF DEATH |
living |
|
PLACE OF DEATH |
|
Above
retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I_of_Spain
Su Majestad
el Rey Don
Juan Carlos
Su Majestad
el Rey nació
el 5 de
enero de
1938 en
Roma, donde
residía la
Familia
Real, que
había tenido
que
abandonar
España al
proclamarse
la República
en 1931.
Fueron sus
padres Don
Juan de
Borbón y
Battenberg,
Conde de
Barcelona y
Jefe de la
Casa Real
española
desde la
renuncia de
su padre el
Rey Don
Alfonso XIII,
y Doña María
de las
Mercedes de
Borbón y
Orleans.
Por expreso
deseo de su
padre, su
formación
fundamental
se
desarrolló
en España, a
la que llegó
por primera
vez a los
diez años,
procedente
de Portugal,
donde
residían los
Condes de
Barcelona
desde 1946,
en la villa
atlántica de
Estoril, y
tras su
etapa como
alumno
interno en
el colegio
de los
Marianistas
de la ciudad
suiza de
Friburgo.
Formación
Académica
En 1954
terminó el
Bachillerato
en el
Instituto
San Isidro,
de Madrid, y
desde 1955
estudió en
las
Academias y
Escuelas
Militares de
los tres
Ejércitos,
donde
adquirió el
grado de
Oficial. En
esta etapa
realizó su
viaje de
prácticas
como
Guardiamarina
en el buque
escuela
"Juan
Sebastián
Elcano", y
obtuvo su
título de
piloto
militar. En
1960-61
completó su
formación en
la
Universidad
Complutense
de Madrid,
donde cursó
estudios de
Derecho
Político e
Internacional,
Economía y
Hacienda
Pública.
El 14 de
mayo de 1962
contrajo
matrimonio
en Atenas
con S.A.R.
la Princesa
Sofía de
Grecia,
primogénita
de SS.MM.
los Reyes
Pablo I y
Federica.
Tras su
viaje de
bodas, los
Príncipes
comenzaron a
vivir en el
Palacio de
la Zarzuela,
en los
alrededores
de Madrid,
que sigue
siendo hoy
su
residencia.
En 1963
nació la
primera de
sus tres
hijos, S.A.R.
la Infanta
Doña Elena,
dos años más
tarde S.A.R.
la Infanta
Doña
Cristina y
en 1968
S.A.R. el
Príncipe Don
Felipe.
Designado
sucesor a la
Jefatura del
Estado en
1969,
comenzó una
etapa de
actividades
oficiales,
viajes por
España y
visitas a
países
extranjeros.
Rey de todos
los
españoles
Tras la
muerte del
anterior
Jefe del
Estado,
Francisco
Franco, Don
Juan Carlos
fue
proclamado
Rey el 22 de
noviembre de
1975, y
pronunció en
las Cortes
su primer
mensaje a la
nación, en
el que
expresó las
ideas
básicas de
su reinado:
restablecer
la
democracia y
ser el Rey
de todos los
españoles,
sin
excepción.
La
transición a
la
democracia,
pilotada por
un nuevo
equipo,
comenzó con
la Ley de
Reforma
Política en
1976. En
mayo de
1977, el
Conde de
Barcelona
transmitió
al Rey sus
derechos
dinásticos y
la Jefatura
de la Casa
Real
española, en
un acto que
constataba
el
cumplimiento
del papel
que
correspondía
a la Corona
en el
retorno a la
democracia.
Un mes más
tarde se
celebraron
las primeras
elecciones
democráticas
desde 1936,
y el nuevo
Parlamento
elaboró el
texto de la
actual
Constitución,
aprobada por
referéndum
el 6 de
diciembre de
1978 y
sancionada
por S.M. el
Rey en la
sesión
solemne de
las Cortes
Generales
del 27 del
mismo mes y
año. En su
mensaje a
las Cortes,
Don Juan
Carlos
proclamó
expresamente
su decidido
propósito de
acatarla y
servirla. De
hecho, fue
la actuación
del Monarca
la que salvó
la
Constitución
y la
democracia
en la noche
del 23 de
febrero de
1981, cuando
los demás
poderes
Constitucionales
estaban
secuestrados
en el
Parlamento
por una
intentona
golpista.
La función de estadista
S.M. el Rey
ha impulsado
un nuevo
estilo en
las
relaciones
iberoamericanas,
subrayando
las señas de
identidad
propias de
una
comunidad
cultural que
se basa en
una lengua
común y
señalando la
necesidad de
alumbrar
iniciativas
conjuntas y
participar
en fórmulas
adecuadas de
cooperación.
Esta es la
razón de ser
de las
Cumbres
Iberoamericanas,
cuya primera
sesión tuvo
lugar en
Guadalajara,
México, en
1991.
Don Juan
Carlos ha
recordado
siempre la
vocación
europea de
España a lo
largo de su
historia y
ha alentado
su proceso
de
incorporación
a las
Comunidades
Europeas. La
importancia
de la Unión
Europea en
el mundo
contemporáneo
y en
particular
en las áreas
que le son
afines,
incluída
Iberoamérica,
ha sido
subrayada
por el Rey
en numerosos
mensajes.
Su perfil
europeísta y
su papel en
el
restablecimiento
de la
democracia
en
Premios
Internacionales.
Atento
siempre al
mundo
intelectual
y a su
capacidad de
innovación,
Don Juan
Carlos
ejerce el
Alto
Patronazgo
de las
Reales
Academias y
mantiene una
asidua
relación con
los ámbitos
culturales y
en
particular
con la
Universidad.
La lengua
castellana,
patrimonio
de la
comunidad de
hispanohablantes,
y su
prometedor
futuro en el
mundo actual
son temas
que merecen
especialmente
su atención.
Impulsó la
creación de
la Fundación
Pro Real
Academia que
se
constituyó
con
participación
de entidades
públicas y
privadas en
1994.
Asimismo es
el
Presidente
de Honor del
Patronato
del
Instituto
Cervantes,
encargado de
la difusión
del español
en el mundo.
Todos los
años entrega
el Premio
Cervantes,
que
distinguen a
los mejores
escritores
de nuestra
lengua en
ambos
continentes.
A través de
las diversas
Fundaciones
de las que
es
Presidente
de Honor
apoya
personalmente
la creación
y desarrollo
de nuevas
tecnologías
en España, y
alienta
numerosas
iniciativas
en las áreas
de la
economía y
la empresa,
la
investigación,
los avances
sociales y
el
desarrollo
solidario de
la
convivencia
española en
sus más
variadas
manifestaciones.
La
Constitución
establece
que
corresponde
al Rey el
mando
supremo de
las Fuerzas
Armadas. En
el ejercicio
de su
función, Su
Majestad se
reúne una
vez al año
con los tres
Ejércitos en
la fiesta de
la Pascua
Militar,
preside la
entrega de
despachos y
diplomas en
las
Academias y
Escuelas
Superiores
Militares,
visita
numerosas
unidades y
asiste a sus
maniobras y
ejercicios.
Sus aficiones
Asiduo
practicante
de varios
deportes,
sobre todo
el esquí y
la vela, Don
Juan Carlos
apoya la
práctica
deportiva
como escuela
de formación
de indudable
valor
social. La
presencia de
los Reyes y
la Familia
Real y su
estímulo a
los equipos
olímpicos
españoles es
constante y
tuvo
especial
relieve
durante los
Juegos
Olímpicos de
Barcelona de
1992.
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