Editing Alfonso XIII (section)

==Reign==
{{Main|Reign of Alfonso XIII of Spain}}

===Early life and education===
{{See also|Regency of Maria Christina of Austria}}[[File:Alfonso_XIII, cadete, de Manuel García Hispaleto.jpg|thumb|left|Alfonso XIII as a cadet; by [[Manuel García Hispaleto]]]]
Alfonso XIII was born at the [[Royal Palace of Madrid]] on 17 May 1886. He was the posthumous son of [[Alfonso XII]] of Spain, who had died in November 1885, and became king upon his birth. Just after he was born, he was carried naked to the prime minister [[Práxedes Mateo Sagasta]] on a silver tray.

Five days later, he was carried in a solemn court procession with a [[Order of the Golden Fleece|Golden Fleece]] around his neck and was baptised with water specially brought from the [[River Jordan]] in Palestine.<ref>''Magnificent Monarchs'' (Fact Attack series) p. 21 by [[Ian Locke]]; published by [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] in 1999; {{ISBN|978-0330-374965}}</ref> The French newspaper {{lang|fr|[[Le Figaro]]}} described the young king in 1889 as "the happiest and best-loved of all the rulers of the earth".<ref>"The Happiest Living Monarch", ''The New York Times''. 14 August 1889.</ref> His mother, [[Maria Christina of Austria]], served as his regent until his sixteenth birthday. During the regency, in 1898, Spain lost its colonial rule over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the United States as a result of the [[Spanish–American War]].

Alfonso became seriously ill during the [[1889–1890 pandemic]].<ref>Kempińska-Mirosławska, B., & Woźniak-Kosek, A. (2013). The influenza epidemic of 1889–90 in selected European cities{{snd}}a picture based on the reports of two Poznań daily newspapers from the second half of the nineteenth century. Medical Science Monitor, 19, 1131–1141. {{doi|10.12659/MSM.889469}}</ref> His health deteriorated around 10 January 1890, and doctors reported his condition as the flu attacked his nervous system leaving the young king in a state of indolence. He eventually recovered.

When Alfonso came of age in May 1902, the week of his majority was marked by festivities, bullfights, balls and receptions throughout Spain.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1902/03/29/archives/alfonsos-reign-begins-may-17-he-will-take-the-oath-on-that-day.html?sq=Alfonso+XIII&scp=101&st=p "Alfonso's Reign Begins on 17 May; He Will Take the Oath on That Day – Festivities to Last a Week,"] ''New York Times,'' 29 March 1902.</ref> He took his oath to the constitution before members of the [[Cortes Generales|Cortes]] on 17 May.

Alfonso received, to a large extent, a military education that imbued him with "a [[Spanish nationalism]] strengthened by his military vocation".<ref name=casals /> Besides the clique of military tutors, Alfonso also received political teachings from a liberal, {{ill|Vicente Santamaría de Paredes|es}}, and moral precepts from an [[Integralism|integrist]], [[José Fernández Montaña|José Fernández de la Montaña]].<ref name=casals>{{Cite book|first=Xavier|last=Casals|title=Franco y los Borbones. Historia no oficial de la corona española|year=2019|publisher=Ariel|isbn=978-84-344-2970-3|author-link=Xavier Casals|orig-year=2005|location=Barcelona|url=https://xaviercasals.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/portada-sumario-fragmento-franco-y-los-borbones.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://xaviercasals.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/portada-sumario-fragmento-franco-y-los-borbones.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|page=32}}</ref>

===Engagement and marriage===
{{Main|Wedding of King Alfonso XIII and Princess Victoria Eugenie}}
[[File:The Nine Sovereigns at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII.jpg|thumb|right|The Nine Sovereigns at [[Windsor Castle|Windsor]] for the funeral of King Edward VII, photographed on 20 May 1910. Standing, from left to right: [[Haakon VII of Norway]], [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria]], [[Manuel II of Portugal]], [[Wilhelm II]] of Germany, [[George I of Greece]] and [[Albert I of Belgium]]. Seated, from left to right: Alfonso XIII of Spain, [[George V]] of the United Kingdom and [[Frederick VIII of Denmark]].]]By 1905, Alfonso was looking for a suitable consort. On a state visit to the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], he stayed in London at [[Buckingham Palace]] with King [[Edward VII]]. There he met Princess [[Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg]], the daughter of Edward's youngest sister [[Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom|Princess Beatrice]], and a granddaughter of [[Queen Victoria]]. He found her attractive, and she returned his interest. There were obstacles to the marriage. Victoria was a [[Protestantism|Protestant]], and would have to become a Catholic. Victoria's brother, [[Lord Leopold Mountbatten|Leopold]], was a [[haemophilia]]c, so there was a 50 percent chance that Victoria was a carrier of the trait. Finally, Alfonso's mother Maria Christina wanted him to marry a member of her family, the [[House of Habsburg-Lorraine]], or some other Catholic princess, as she considered the Battenbergs to be non-dynastic.

Victoria was willing to change her religion, and her being a haemophilia carrier was only a possibility. Maria Christina was eventually persuaded to drop her opposition. In January 1906 she wrote an official letter to Princess Beatrice proposing the match. Victoria met Maria Christina and Alfonso in [[Biarritz]], France, later that month, and converted to Catholicism in [[San Sebastián]] in March.

[[File:Anarchist attack on the King of Spain Alfonso XIII (1906).jpg|thumb|left|200px|Photograph taken moments after the assassination attempt on Alfonso and [[Victoria Eugenie]] on their wedding day]]
In May, diplomats of both kingdoms officially executed the agreement of marriage. Alfonso and Victoria were married at the [[San Jerónimo el Real|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 [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]]). The wedding was marked by [[Morral affair|an assassination attempt]] on Alfonso and Victoria by Catalan [[Anarchism in Spain|anarchist]] Mateu Morral. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://edwardianpromenade.com/weddings/royal-wedding-1-victoria-eugenie-alfonso-xiii/|title=Royal Wedding #1: Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg & King Alfonso XIII of Spain|work=Edwardian Promenade|date=25 March 2011|access-date=25 June 2015}}</ref>

On 10 May 1907, the couple's first child, [[Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (1907–1938)|Alfonso, Prince of Asturias]], was born. Victoria was in fact a haemophilia carrier, and Alfonso inherited the condition.

Neither of the two daughters born to the King and Queen were haemophilia carriers, but another of their sons, [[Infante Gonzalo of Spain|Gonzalo]] (1914–1934), had the condition. Alfonso distanced himself from his wife for transmitting the condition to their sons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elmundo.es/cronica/2002/339/1018871276.html|title=Reinas Borbones de cuidado|work=elmundo.es|access-date=25 June 2015}}</ref> From 1914 on, he had several mistresses, and fathered five illegitimate children. A sixth illegitimate child had been born before his marriage.

===World War I===
{{See also|European War Office|Spain during World War I}}
[[File:Alphonse à Vaux, 1919, 3.jpg|thumb|right|Alfonso XIII visiting [[Verdun]] in 1919]]
During [[World War I]], because of his family connections with both sides and the division of popular opinion, Spain remained neutral.<ref>His wife was British, his mother Austrian, amongst other family relationships.</ref> The King established an office for assistance to prisoners of war on all sides. This office used the Spanish diplomatic and military network abroad to intercede for thousands of POWs – transmitting and receiving letters for them, and other services.<ref name="royal-knight"/> The office was located in the [[Palacio Real|Royal Palace]].

Alfonso attempted to save the Russian Tsar [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] and his family from the [[Bolsheviks]] who captured them, sending two telegrams offering the Russian imperial family refuge in Spain. He later learned of the [[execution of the Romanov family]], but was mistaken in believing that only Nicholas II and his son [[Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia|Alexei]] had been killed. As such, he continued to push for the Tsarina [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Alexandra]], a first cousin of Victoria Eugenie, and her four daughters to be brought to Spain, not having realized that they had also been murdered.<ref>{{cite news|last=Olaya|first=Vicente G.|title=Cuando Alfonso XIII intentó salvar al zar|url=https://elpais.com/cultura/2018/11/06/actualidad/1541517435_674442.html|language=Spanish|work=El País|date=6 November 2018}}</ref>

Alfonso became gravely ill during the [[1918 flu pandemic]]. Spain was neutral and thus under no wartime censorship restrictions, so his illness and subsequent recovery were reported to the world, while flu outbreaks in the belligerent countries were concealed. This gave the misleading impression that Spain was the most affected area and led to the pandemic being dubbed "the Spanish Flu".<ref name="Barry">Barry 171.</ref>

===Cracking of the system and dictatorship===
{{main|Rif War|1923 Spanish coup d'état|Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-09411, Primo de Rivera und der König von Spanien.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|Alfonso (left) with his dictatorial prime minister, [[Miguel Primo de Rivera, 2nd Marquis of Estella|Miguel Primo de Rivera]]]]
Following World War I, Spain entered the lengthy yet victorious [[Rif War]] (1920–1926) to preserve its colonial rule over northern Morocco. Critics of the monarchy thought the war was an unforgivable loss of money and lives, and nicknamed Alfonso ''el Africano'' ("the African").<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hTl3WyxE3cC&pg=PA115|title=Alfonso XIII: un político en el trono|first=Javier|last=Moreno Luzón|publisher=Marcial Pons Historia|year=2003|location=Madrid|language=es|isbn=84-95379-59-7|access-date=12 May 2023|page=115}}</ref> Alfonso had not acted as a strict constitutional monarch, and supported the [[Africanist (Spain)|Africanists]] who wanted to conquer for Spain a new empire in Africa to compensate for the lost empire in the Americas and elsewhere.<ref>Perry, James ''Arrogant Armies Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them'', Edison: Castle Books, 2005 p. 274</ref> The Rif War had starkly polarized Spanish society between the Africanists who wanted to conquer an empire in Africa vs. the ''abandonistas'' who wanted to abandon Morocco as not worth the blood and treasure.<ref name="Perry, James page 286">Perry, James ''Arrogant Armies Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them'', Edison: Castle Books, 2005 p. 286.</ref> Alfonso liked to play favourites with his generals, and one of his most favoured generals was [[Manuel Fernández Silvestre]].<ref>Perry, James ''Arrogant Armies Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them'', Edison: Castle Books, 2005 p. 276</ref> In 1921, when Silvestre advanced up into the [[Rif|Rif mountains]] of Morocco, Alfonso sent him a telegram whose first line read "Hurrah for real men!", urging Silvestre not to retreat at a time when Silvestre was experiencing major difficulties.<ref>Perry, James ''Arrogant Armies Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them'', Edison: Castle Books, 2005 p. 280.</ref> Silvestre stayed the course, leading his men into the [[Battle of Annual]], one of Spain's worst defeats. Alfonso, who was on holiday in the south of France at the time, was informed of the "Disaster of the Annual" while he was playing [[golf]]. Reportedly, Alfonso's response to the news was to shrug his shoulders and say "Chicken meat is cheap", before resuming his game.<ref>Perry, James ''Arrogant Armies Great Military Disasters and the Generals Behind Them'', Edison: Castle Books, 2005 p. 284.</ref> Alfonso remained in France and did not return to Spain to comfort the families of the soldiers lost in the battle, which many people at the time saw as a callous and cold act, a sign that the King was indifferent over the lives of his soldiers. In 1922, the Cortes started an investigation into the responsibility for the Annual disaster and soon discovered evidence that the King had been one of the main supporters of Silvestre's advance into the Rif mountains.

[[File:Alfonso XIII in uniform of a British Field Marshall.jpg|thumb|Alfonso in uniform of [[Field marshal (United Kingdom)|field marshal of the United Kingdom]], 1928]]

After the "Disaster of the Annual", Spain's war in the Rif went from bad to worse, and as the Spanish were barely hanging on to Morocco, support for the ''abandonistas'' grew as many people could see no point to the war.<ref name="Perry, James page 286"/> In August 1923, Spanish soldiers embarking for Morocco mutinied, other soldiers in [[Málaga]] simply refused to board the ships that were to take them to Morocco, while in Barcelona huge crowds of left-wingers had staged anti-war protests at which Spanish flags were burned while the flag of the [[Republic of the Rif|Rif Republic]] was waved about.<ref name="Perry, James page 286"/> With the [[Africanist (Spain)|Africanists]] comprising only a minority, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the ''abandonistas'' forced the Spanish to give up on the Rif, which was part of the reason for the [[Miguel Primo de Rivera#Establishment of dictatorship|military coup d'état later in 1923]].<ref name="Perry, James page 286"/>

On 13 September 1923, [[Miguel Primo de Rivera, 2nd Marquis of Estella|Miguel Primo de Rivera]], Captain General of Catalonia, staged a military coup with the collaboration from a quad of ''Africanist'' generals based in Madrid (José Cavalcanti, Federico Berenguer, Leopoldo Saro and Antonio Dabán). These generals were associated with the innermost military clique of Alfonso XIII and wanted to prevent investigations about Annual from tarnishing the monarch, even if Primo de Rivera had embraced ''Abandonista'' positions prior to that point.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://publicaciones.defensa.gob.es/media/downloadable/files/links/P/D/PDF426.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://publicaciones.defensa.gob.es/media/downloadable/files/links/P/D/PDF426.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|page=164|first=Guillermo|last=Serrano Sáenz de Tejada|title=De la guerra de Marruecos y el combate que no debió ser|year=2013|isbn=978-84-9781-816-2|publisher=[[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Ministerio de Defensa]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0PODwAAQBAJ&pg=PT182|title=Manual de Historia Política y Social de España (1808–2018)|first1=Miguel|last1=Martorell|year=2019|isbn=9788490562840|first2=Santos|last2=Juliá|publisher=RBA Libros|author-link2=Santos Juliá}}</ref> Primo de Rivera ruled as a dictator with the king's support until January 1930.

During the dictatorship, the king increased his public presence, siding with a Catholic, [[anti-Catalan]]ist, dictatorial and militarist brand of Spanish nationalism.{{Sfn|Moreno Luzón|2023|p=29}}

In 1925, Alfonso was the target of [[Garraf plot|an assassination plot]] by Catalan separatists while in Barcelona. While the attempt was foiled, Miguel Primo de Rivera used the incident to further solidify his rule.

{{See also|Dictablanda of Dámaso Berenguer}}
On 28 January 1930, amid economic problems, general unpopularity and a putschist plot led by General [[Manuel Goded]] in motion,{{Sfn|Casals|2004|p=211}} of which Alfonso XIII was most probably aware,{{Sfn|Tuñón de Lara|2000|p=225}} Miguel Primo de Rivera was forced to resign, exiling to Paris, only to die a few weeks later of the complications from [[diabetes]] in combination with the effects of a [[flu]].{{Sfn|Casals|2004|pp=214–216}} Alfonso XIII appointed General [[Dámaso Berenguer]] as the new prime minister. Back in 1926, Alfonso XIII had appointed Berenguer as Chief of Staff of the Military House of the King, a post conventionally fit for burned-out generals in order to move them away from the spotlight for a time in a show of affection.<ref>{{Cite journal|issn=1138-7319|first=Alberto|title=Padrino y patrón. Alfonso XIII y sus oficiales (1902–1923)|url=http://hispanianova.rediris.es/6/articulos/6a003.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://hispanianova.rediris.es/6/articulos/6a003.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|last=Bru Sánchez-Fortún|year=2006|publisher=[[Charles III University of Madrid|Universidad Carlos III de Madrid]]|location=Getafe|journal=Hispania Nova. Revista de Historia Contemporánea|issue=6}}</ref> The new period was nicknamed as ''[[Dictablanda of Dámaso Berenguer|dictablanda]]''. The King was so closely associated with the [[dictatorship of Primo de Rivera]] that it was difficult for him to distance himself from the regime that he had supported for almost seven years. The enforced changes relied on the incorrect assumption that Spaniards would accept the notion that nothing had happened after 1923 and that going back to the prior state of things was possible.{{Sfn|Avilés Farré|Elizalde Pérez-Grueso|Sueiro Seoane|2002|p=308}}