Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. Usually, the
Speaker 1: Spanish Royal Guard played music during royal proceedings, but on
Speaker 1: May seventeenth, eighteen eighty six, the Palace in Madrid was silent.
Speaker 1: The guard had been dismissed early that day. Not only
Speaker 1: was there no music, the royal family had actually ordered
Speaker 1: that the streets next to the palace be sanded down
Speaker 1: so that passing carriages wouldn't make too much noise. It
Speaker 1: might seem like overkill to change city infrastructure for just
Speaker 1: one day, but the Queen of Spain, Maria Christina of Bourbon,
Speaker 1: wife of King Alphonso the twelfth, was going into labor
Speaker 1: for the birth of her third child, and they didn't
Speaker 1: want to take any chances. The Bourbons had been struggling
Speaker 1: for more than half a century to produce a male
Speaker 1: heir to the throne. Let's flash back fifty years before
Speaker 1: this silent birth, back to Queen Isabella the Second, who
Speaker 1: was born in eighteen thirty. She was the only daughter
Speaker 1: of King Ferdinand the seventh, but since succession laws prevented
Speaker 1: women from inheriting the throne. Isabella was never supposed to
Speaker 1: rule Spain, but her father never had a son, and
Speaker 1: so to ensure that their bloodline remained in control, the
Speaker 1: king changed the laws at the last minute, making Isabella
Speaker 1: the second the first and only queen regnant in the
Speaker 1: history of Spain, back when she was just three years old.
Speaker 1: As you might imagine, that was a controversial move. The
Speaker 1: late king's brother, Don Carlos, wanted to rule instead of
Speaker 1: his niece. He thought that Isabella's reign indicated that the
Speaker 1: country was becoming too liberal, not just because her father
Speaker 1: had abruptly changed the succession laws on her behalf, but
Speaker 1: also because, as Isabella grew up, she supported Spain separating
Speaker 1: from the Catholic Church and becoming a constitutional monarchy. In
Speaker 1: this political context, Carlos, Isabella's uncle, represented a conservative traditional alternative.
Speaker 1: His supporters, naming themselves Carlists, formed a militant far right
Speaker 1: group that tried to violently overthrow Isabella three times over
Speaker 1: the course of the nineteenth century. While the Carlists did
Speaker 1: not succeed, a group of moderates, frustrated with Isabella waffling
Speaker 1: between liberal and conservative policies, did eventually send Isabella into exile.
Speaker 1: It's never a great sign when a moderate party spearheads
Speaker 1: a coup. Under Isabella, Spain had been a disaster, with
Speaker 1: a huge federal deficit, growing economic inequality, and near constant
Speaker 1: peasant uprisings and civil war. The following king only lasted
Speaker 1: three years before getting fed up by the constant crisses. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: progressives began wondering if Spain should have a monarchy at all.
Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy three, after the king stepped down, the
Speaker 1: legislature declared Spain a republic. The problem was that no
Speaker 1: one could agree on how this republic would work. The
Speaker 1: situation was so chaotic that the president left in the
Speaker 1: middle of a workday to go for a walk in
Speaker 1: the park, which turned into him boarding a train to
Speaker 1: Paris and ghosting the Spanish government altogether. So Spain decided
Speaker 1: to give the monarchy thing another try, and they installed
Speaker 1: isabella the second son, Alfonso the twelfth, as king. And
Speaker 1: so now we're caught up after a near century of
Speaker 1: coups and crises and various existential threats to the Spanish monarchy.
Speaker 1: Alfonso the twelfth was king, and he needed to produce
Speaker 1: a male heir as quickly as possible. His first wife
Speaker 1: died of typhoid almost immediately after their honeymoon, and he
Speaker 1: proposed to his second wife, Maria Christina, just four months later.
Speaker 1: He didn't seem thrilled about. He allegedly told his closest adviser,
Speaker 1: pepe O Cossio, you don't like her, neither do I.
Speaker 1: After they got married, Alfonso the twelfth and Maria Christina
Speaker 1: had a daughter, much to the court's chagrin. A Frenchman
Speaker 1: in the Royal court sent Maria Christina a letter advising
Speaker 1: her on best practices to conceive a baby boy. He
Speaker 1: included extremely graphic descriptions about what Alfonso and Maria Christina
Speaker 1: should be doing with their genitalia, using a metaphor about
Speaker 1: how the Grand Turk should enter Constantinople. We don't know
Speaker 1: if she took his advice, but either way it didn't work.
Speaker 1: She had another daughter in eighteen eighty two. Worse yet,
Speaker 1: just three years later, Alfonso the twelfth was dying of tuberculosis,
Speaker 1: so he was running out of time to produce a
Speaker 1: male He was well aware of the dire political consequences
Speaker 1: of his death. His alleged last words were the conflict
Speaker 1: the conflict, but there was a glimmer of hope. Maria
Speaker 1: Christina was pregnant six months after Alfonso the twelfth's death.
Speaker 1: A cadre of political ministers waited in the palace while
Speaker 1: Maria Christina was in labor. The streets outside the palace
Speaker 1: sanded into silence. Now you understand why they were taking
Speaker 1: no risks with this baby's birth. If Maria Christina had
Speaker 1: a boy, she could keep the monarchy going for another generation.
Speaker 1: If not, Spain might be thrust back into political turmoil
Speaker 1: with no clear path out. Finally, while the nation waited,
Speaker 1: a government official brought out the newborn on a literal
Speaker 1: silver platter with a red velvet cushion. The official removed
Speaker 1: a handkerchief which covered the infant's body and revealed that
Speaker 1: this baby was a boy. Maria Christina named him Alfonso
Speaker 1: the thirteenth, after his late father. With the knowledge that
Speaker 1: this boy would become king, a telegram was sent out
Speaker 1: throughout the nation proclaiming that quote tranquility has been completed
Speaker 1: in all of Spain. This tranquility wouldn't last long. From
Speaker 1: the moment he was born, Alfonso the thirteenth was expected
Speaker 1: to bring together two opposing parties with opposing visions of
Speaker 1: what Spain could be. On the one hand, far right
Speaker 1: groups like the Carlists wanted Spain to remain a conservative,
Speaker 1: Catholic imperial power with a strong monarchy. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: progressives and anarchists wanted to form a more democratic, secular government.
Speaker 1: If Alfonso succeeded in unifying the nation, he would allow
Speaker 1: the Spanish monarchy to survive. Otherwise he would end up
Speaker 1: like his grandmother Isabella the Second, reviled by both the
Speaker 1: right and the left, and cast into exile. The stakes
Speaker 1: were impossibly high for a baby king. I'm Danish sports
Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. True to the volatile political moment,
Speaker 1: Alfonso the Thirteenth's upbringing at the end of the nineteenth
Speaker 1: century was full of contradictions. He was raised to be
Speaker 1: both spoiled and obedient, mercurial and thoughtful, liberal and conservative.
Speaker 1: The French newspaper Le Figaro described the young king in
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine as the happiest and best loved of
Speaker 1: all the rulers of the earth. As the future king
Speaker 1: of Spain, he was doated on by the court, especially
Speaker 1: by his aunt Isabel. She lived by the maxim you
Speaker 1: have to do whatever the king orders, and made this
Speaker 1: an official protocol for the court. According to the scholar
Speaker 1: Xavier Cassal's, this culture made the little king a capricious
Speaker 1: and spoiled person who cursed at his family members and
Speaker 1: courtiers if they didn't do what he wanted. But spoiled
Speaker 1: as he might have been, Alfonso was all already feeling
Speaker 1: the pressure to live up to impossibly high expectations. Alfonso
Speaker 1: was in his late father's shadows when he was just
Speaker 1: two years old. The Spanish legislature expressed their desire for
Speaker 1: the little king's upbringing to compensate for the quote immense
Speaker 1: sorrow and anxiety that the nation has felt for the
Speaker 1: death of his august father. So Alfonso's mother, Maria Christina,
Speaker 1: tried to give little Alfonso the same intense military education
Speaker 1: that his father had received when he was growing up.
Speaker 1: Little Alfonso the thirteenth got up every morning at seven
Speaker 1: point thirty, took classes, practiced horsemanship, and took bracing walks
Speaker 1: in the mountains before turning to the palace for Tea.
Speaker 1: In the afternoons, he took fencing classes and did military
Speaker 1: training with other aristocrats. With many rifles that fit in
Speaker 1: their small hands. As Alfonso got older, he started playing
Speaker 1: polo against other politicians and ministers, most famously young Winston Churchill.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, according to the politician and
Speaker 1: writer for Nando Soldevilla, it was a highly reclusive life,
Speaker 1: entirely cut off from the people that gave some politicians
Speaker 1: and journalists pause. Alfonso's military education turned him into a
Speaker 1: devout Catholic who loved uniforms and parades. He was becoming
Speaker 1: a relic from the past rather than a progressive monarch,
Speaker 1: all set for the new twentieth century. At the same time,
Speaker 1: Alfonso was just teenager. People's politics evolve a lot over
Speaker 1: the course of their young adulthood. Mine certainly did. I
Speaker 1: thought I knew everything at twenty. Alfonso's mother and his
Speaker 1: late father and grandmother were all committed to upholding a
Speaker 1: relatively progressive monarchy, and there was no reason to think
Speaker 1: that Alfonso would do anything much differently. In nineteen o two,
Speaker 1: on his sixteenth birthday, Alfonso officially took the throne, swearing
Speaker 1: to uphold a constitution which was only about a decade
Speaker 1: older than he was. On that day, the streets of
Speaker 1: Madrid looked as though they were out of another era.
Speaker 1: The center of the city had garlands, flags and palm
Speaker 1: fronds flying from the balconies. At night, businesses, ministries and
Speaker 1: wealthy residents paid for electrical lights to illuminate the city.
Speaker 1: At the coronation, Alfonso gave a short, if unremarkable speech.
Speaker 1: He later wrote in his diary, I did not think
Speaker 1: I could take any chances. Now that he was officially king,
Speaker 1: the pressure was on for him to marry and produce
Speaker 1: a male heir of his own. In nineteen o four,
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister of Spain, Antonio Maura, appointed himself Alfonso
Speaker 1: the thirteenth marriage wingman. Even though a Spanish monarch hadn't
Speaker 1: set foot in England for three and a half centuries,
Speaker 1: Maurra had decided that Alfonso's wife should be British, since
Speaker 1: a royal wedding would be a great way to repair
Speaker 1: the relationship between Spain and England. Moreover, England, with a
Speaker 1: relatively able modern monarchy, would be a model for what
Speaker 1: Spain's monarchy wanted to be. The French ambassador to Spain
Speaker 1: said to Maurra, a young English princess would bring here
Speaker 1: the ways of life and the independence of spirit that
Speaker 1: would modify the moreys of a somewhat old fashioned court,
Speaker 1: and so Mara reached out to a few English aristocrats,
Speaker 1: collecting photos of their daughters to present to Alfonso. Mara's
Speaker 1: top picks were Patricia and Victoria Eugenia of Brattenburg, as
Speaker 1: they were quote prettier and more likable than the other candidates.
Speaker 1: Upon visiting England, Alfonso was smitten with the younger Brattenburg
Speaker 1: Victoria Eugenia. Victoria Eugenia, familiarly known as Ina, was blonde,
Speaker 1: with blue eyes and a rosy completion. She was cheerful
Speaker 1: and shy. She was also not quite as taken with
Speaker 1: the young king as he was of her. She acknowledged
Speaker 1: that he was quote very happy, very nice, but that
Speaker 1: he was quote not handsome. She seemed to grow more
Speaker 1: fond of Alfonso over time. In her postcards from nineteen
Speaker 1: oh five to nineteen oh six, she shifts from identifying
Speaker 1: herself as a friend to using the word love to
Speaker 1: address him. Less than a year after they met, they
Speaker 1: were engaged to be wed. There was no reason to
Speaker 1: think that this royal wedding would be any different from
Speaker 1: the coronation, which went off without a hitch. After the
Speaker 1: ceremony at the Royal Monastery of San Geronimo, the royal
Speaker 1: procession weaved through the streets of Madrid, with every balcony
Speaker 1: draped with red and yellow cloth meant to represent the
Speaker 1: national flag. But then, as the royal couple's royal carriage
Speaker 1: passed the Italian Embassy on Caye Major, a bomb detonated.
Speaker 1: A news crew filming the procession caught the tragedy on film.
Speaker 1: You can see the royal carriage rounding the corner before
Speaker 1: a puff of smoke clouds the screen. The footage cuts
Speaker 1: abruptly to the wreckage. The carriage toppled over the crowd
Speaker 1: desperately trying to escape. The Light from the bomb momentarily
Speaker 1: blinded the couple, but they emerged unscathed. The bomb had
Speaker 1: gone off right between the last row of the carriage's horses,
Speaker 1: between the horses and the carriage where the couple was sitting.
Speaker 1: Had it been any closer, it probably would have killed them.
Speaker 1: Not everyone was as fortunate as the royal couple. The
Speaker 1: bomb injured over one hundred people and killed twenty four,
Speaker 1: including the guardsman who had been riding right beside Ina.
Speaker 1: Blood soaked the trim of her wedding dress. That's how
Speaker 1: close he was. The couple was ushered into another carriage
Speaker 1: to flee the carnage. They could hear the screams of
Speaker 1: the crowd as they drove away toward the safety of
Speaker 1: the palace. It turned out that this terrorist attack was
Speaker 1: part of a growing anarchist anti monarchy movement centralized in Barcelona.
Speaker 1: The man that threw the bomb was a gaunt cut
Speaker 1: a Line anarchist named Matteo Morale. This wasn't the first
Speaker 1: time he had been involved in an attempt to assassinate Alfonso.
Speaker 1: Just one year earlier, Alfonso had stopped in Paris on
Speaker 1: a diplomatic mission on the way to meet Ena in
Speaker 1: England for the first time. As Alfonso returned from a
Speaker 1: night at the opera, a group of terrorists, which many
Speaker 1: scholars think likely included Moral, detonated a bomb in a
Speaker 1: park nearby, which injured twelve people but didn't hurt the king.
Speaker 1: Right before the royal wedding, Morale had checked into a
Speaker 1: hotel and Caye Mayor, requesting a room overlooking the street.
Speaker 1: He concealed a bomb in a bouquet of flowers and
Speaker 1: tossed it from his window on the third floor as
Speaker 1: the royal carriage passed by. Moral took his own life
Speaker 1: after fleeing the scene, so his exact intentions remain unclear,
Speaker 1: but the terrorist attack seemed more like an expression of
Speaker 1: a vague incoat desire for revolution than part of a
Speaker 1: specific political strategy, and it failed. Alfonso and Enna survived
Speaker 1: and would continue to rule over Spain well into the
Speaker 1: twentieth century, but this event was an omen of what
Speaker 1: was to come. While Alfonso was taking fencing lessons and
Speaker 1: sending postcards to his English fiance, he was mostly insulated
Speaker 1: from Spain's continued political turmoil. The bombing on his wedding
Speaker 1: day made one thing clear. Alfonso and the monarchy had
Speaker 1: passionate enemies. He may have started out as the beloved
Speaker 1: royal baby, but now he was king and king of
Speaker 1: It's one of the most unstable countries in Europe, and
Speaker 1: all of the fencing lessons in the world couldn't prepare
Speaker 1: him for political chaos to come. The tragedy at Alfonso
Speaker 1: and ENA's wedding became a grim omen for their relationship.
Speaker 1: Under the harsh pressures of royal life, their marriage started
Speaker 1: to sour. The first problem was that Ina didn't seem
Speaker 1: to like Spain very much. She hadn't yet learned Spanish,
Speaker 1: and she seemed baffled by the customs of the Spanish court.
Speaker 1: There weren't any hotels in Madrid where her guests could stay,
Speaker 1: so they had to stay in the houses of random
Speaker 1: officials nearby. The palace had no central heating, which made
Speaker 1: rooms often musty and cold, and Alfonso's secretary was in
Speaker 1: the habit of spitting directly on the floor, which Ena
Speaker 1: thought was disgusting. The second problem came when Ena and
Speaker 1: Alfonso had their first child. Ena, a descendant of Queen Victoria,
Speaker 1: was a carrier for hemophilia, a hereditary disease that can
Speaker 1: cause profuse, sometimes spontaneous bleeding and can prevent blood from clotting.
Speaker 1: Hemophilia generally expresses in men, but is carried by women,
Speaker 1: creating potential issues in producing a healthy male air. Starting
Speaker 1: in nineteen oh seven, Ina had six children in seven years.
Speaker 1: Her eldest and youngest sons were both hemophiliacs, and her
Speaker 1: two daughters were carriers for the disease, but she had
Speaker 1: two sons which were spared. Alfonso had been aware that
Speaker 1: Ina could be a carrier when they got married, but
Speaker 1: he decided to take the risk. Even so, Alfonso came
Speaker 1: to resent his wife for ruining the clear line of
Speaker 1: dynastic succession and making it harder to marry off their daughters.
Speaker 1: Alfonso wrote in a diary quote, I am not resigned
Speaker 1: to the fact that my heir has contracted a disease
Speaker 1: that my wife's family has brought and not mine. I
Speaker 1: know I'm unfair, I admit it, but I cannot feel otherwise.
Speaker 1: End quote. As the years passed, the couple started to
Speaker 1: see each other less and less. The queen took frequent
Speaker 1: trips to England alone, or left for Malaga with her
Speaker 1: children and her mother and left Alfonso in Madrid. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Alfonso's political career was off to a rocky start. His
Speaker 1: new tra during World War One won him praise, especially
Speaker 1: from his old polo buddy Winston Churchill. Because of his
Speaker 1: humanitarian efforts during the First World War, Alfonso became the
Speaker 1: first and only monarch to be nominated for a Nobel
Speaker 1: Peace Prize. Domestically, though, things weren't going nearly as well.
Speaker 1: Alfonso's relationship with Antonio Mara, the Prime minister who acted
Speaker 1: as Alfonso's marital wingman back in nineteen o four, was strained.
Speaker 1: Political unrest exploded in Barcelona as the result of an
Speaker 1: anarchist pro republic movement similar to the group that fueled
Speaker 1: the terrorist attack at Alfonso's wedding. After a general strike
Speaker 1: and a series of anti clerical protests, Maurra sent in
Speaker 1: troops who killed one hundred and five for civilians and
Speaker 1: imprisoned seventeen hundred. Then Maura executed the beloved anarchist leader
Speaker 1: and educator Francisco ferreer Gardia for spearheading the riots, despite
Speaker 1: having no evidence that actually proved he had spearheaded the riots.
Speaker 1: Maurra lost so much goodwill as a result that he
Speaker 1: was forced to resign. With all of this chaos in
Speaker 1: the legislature, Alfonso became a more and more powerful figure
Speaker 1: in Spanish politics. He could dissolve parliament and appoint ministers
Speaker 1: at will, allowing him to manipulate the government from behind
Speaker 1: the scenes. And recall that time in eighteen seventy three
Speaker 1: when Spain had gotten rid of the monarchy and then
Speaker 1: reinstalled a king again. A year later, well when spain
Speaker 1: Yane brought the monarchy back. After that brief hiatus, the
Speaker 1: government gave the king control over the army, so by
Speaker 1: this point Alfonso had the legislature and the military under
Speaker 1: his control, and he was completely rolling back the liberal
Speaker 1: reforms that his grandmother Isabella had set into motion almost
Speaker 1: a century ago. This was exactly what progressives had been
Speaker 1: worried about when Alfonso was an eight year old, receiving
Speaker 1: a Catholic military education and learning to use a child
Speaker 1: sized musket. In keeping with his incredibly traditional upbringing, Alfonso
Speaker 1: the thirteenth seemed more enamored with bringing Spain back to
Speaker 1: the past than bringing it toward a better future. It
Speaker 1: turns out the progressives were very, very right to worry.
Speaker 1: When Alfonso had ascended the throne at age sixteen, Spain
Speaker 1: was still thought of as a world power in spite
Speaker 1: of the political turmoil. Domestically, Spain in the nineteenth century
Speaker 1: had a vast empire with strongholds in the Americas, Africa, Asia,
Speaker 1: and the Pacific. But just two years later, at the
Speaker 1: end of the Spanish American War, Spain had lost almost
Speaker 1: all of its colonies. Military leaders who had suffered crushing
Speaker 1: defeats in the Spanish American War wanted to find opportunities
Speaker 1: to expand colonial control and regain Spain's former glory. They
Speaker 1: set their sights on Morocco, where Spain already had a
Speaker 1: few military outposts. Conquering Morocco was unpopular among politicians and civilians,
Speaker 1: who thought such an invasion would be pointless, expensive and distracting,
Speaker 1: but Alfonso the thirteenth sympathized with the desire to restore
Speaker 1: Spain's imperial dominance. While Alfonso didn't introduce or spearhead the idea,
Speaker 1: as leader of the military, he became the face of
Speaker 1: the movement. The position majorly backfired. A few years into
Speaker 1: the attempted conquest, a general had expressed some reservations to
Speaker 1: Alfonso about continuing to advance up the Reef mountains in
Speaker 1: northern Morocco. Alfonso assured the general that he shouldn't retreat,
Speaker 1: sending him a telegram that said Hurrah for real men.
Speaker 1: The battle that followed was the bloodiest yet, resulting in
Speaker 1: the death of three thousand Spanish soldiers. Alfonso was reported
Speaker 1: playing golf in the south of France when someone told
Speaker 1: him about the crushing defeat. He allegedly responded goosebumps are expensive.
Speaker 1: That sounds a little awkward translated into English, but he
Speaker 1: was basically calling the soldiers cowards and complaining about the
Speaker 1: financial burden of them being cowardly soldiers, rather than expressing
Speaker 1: concern for the many lives that were lost. This was
Speaker 1: Alfonso the Thirteenth's let them Eat Cake moment, where the
Speaker 1: public tore him to shreds for his callousness in the
Speaker 1: face of tragedy and like, let them eat cake. There's
Speaker 1: actually no proof that Alfonso actually said the phrase that
Speaker 1: he became infamous for. According to a French ambassador, Alfonso
Speaker 1: instead complained about being surrounded by chicken brains. But no
Speaker 1: matter what he said, Alfonso and the war that he
Speaker 1: came to represent had never been less popular. Parliament began
Speaker 1: an investigation into the Battle of Annual to take the
Speaker 1: military to task for the brutal loss. Fearing the consequences
Speaker 1: of that investigation, a high ranking military official named Miguel
Speaker 1: Primo de Rivera staged a coup to overthrow the Spanish
Speaker 1: legislature and set up a dictatorship in nineteen twenty three.
Speaker 1: Alfonso didn't spearhead the coup, but he didn't shut it
Speaker 1: down either. As Primo de Rivera and his army invaded Barcelona,
Speaker 1: Alfonso expressed his support for the new regime and sat
Speaker 1: down with the dictator a few few days later to
Speaker 1: discuss the division of their powers. With that Spain seemed
Speaker 1: further than ever from being a democratic republic, Primo de
Speaker 1: Rivera struck down the constitution that Alfonso had sworn in
Speaker 1: on and completely dissolved the legislature. Spanish politicians, both conservative
Speaker 1: and progressive, had hoped for a day when the constant
Speaker 1: coup that had defined the nineteenth century would finally come
Speaker 1: to an end. Not only did these violent coups continue
Speaker 1: during Alfonso's reign in the twentieth century, but now Alfonso
Speaker 1: was supporting them. That said, there was a way in
Speaker 1: which Alfonso's rule succeeded in modernizing the Spanish government. On
Speaker 1: a trip to Rome, Alfonso made a telling comment to
Speaker 1: the King of Italy. He called Primo dere z Vera
Speaker 1: my Mussolini. The comparison was apt. A year before Primo
Speaker 1: derri Vera took control of Spain, Mussolini had staged a
Speaker 1: nearly identical coup in Italy, invading Rome with the Italian
Speaker 1: King's blessing, Alfonso was not going to be the harbinger
Speaker 1: of democracy. Instead, he was setting Spain up for a
Speaker 1: different kind of twentieth century government, fascism. Like all attempts
Speaker 1: at establishing a stable government in Spain in the early
Speaker 1: twentieth century, Primo de Rivera's dictatorship failed. Primo derri Vera
Speaker 1: promised to bring Spain back to normal, but the economy
Speaker 1: had collapsed, and two unsuccessful coups later, the country was
Speaker 1: still enshambled. Prima der Rivera retired in nineteen thirty and
Speaker 1: Alfonso the thirteenth replaced him with another dictator, Damasco Berenger.
Speaker 1: This time, Alfonso wanted to try to go back to
Speaker 1: how things had been before Primo de Rivera took power
Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty three. Alfonso aimed to reinstall the constitution,
Speaker 1: set up parliament, and introduce elections back to Spain. Unfortunately
Speaker 1: for Alfonso it wasn't that simple. His attempt to consolidate
Speaker 1: political power over the course of his rule had blown
Speaker 1: up in his face. Alfonso naively thought that by exerting
Speaker 1: more and more control over the government, he would be
Speaker 1: able to single handedly bring Spain to a place of
Speaker 1: stability and prosperity, after all, that was his birthright, what
Speaker 1: he had been told his entire life that he was
Speaker 1: expected to do. Instead, the more power he took, the
Speaker 1: less institutional support he had for his rule. Without a constitution, legislature,
Speaker 1: or strong centralized government, there were no structures through which
Speaker 1: Alfonso could express or reinforce political power. All he had
Speaker 1: to legitimize his reign. In other words, was the a
Speaker 1: morphous idea that he was a king. As the monarchy's
Speaker 1: power shriveled before their eyes, progressives wondered, like they had
Speaker 1: back in eighteen seventy three, whether the monarchy was altogether irrelevant.
Speaker 1: For the first time in fifty years, a republican government
Speaker 1: seemed like a viable option. A coalition of socialists took
Speaker 1: advantage of the opportunity and planned a municipal election in
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one, where the public would vote on whether
Speaker 1: or not Spain should have a monarchy. After counting the
Speaker 1: results of the referendum, they found that forty one out
Speaker 1: of fifty provinces voted to install a republic, ending Alfonso's rule.
Speaker 1: Alfonso fled the country That very night. Alfonso met up
Speaker 1: with his wife and seven children in Paris, where he
Speaker 1: tried to make amends for having not quite been a
Speaker 1: family man. But after just a few days of living together,
Speaker 1: Ena was fed up with Alfonso. Everything he did got
Speaker 1: on her nerves, from his lack of interest in reading
Speaker 1: or music to his bad breath. Finally, she told him,
Speaker 1: I'm leaving. I don't want to see your ugly face anymore.
Speaker 1: Ena left for London, and the two would never live
Speaker 1: in the same city again. So here he was, Alfonso
Speaker 1: was alone, stripped of his power and unwelcome in the
Speaker 1: country he had devoted his life to. In a twisted way,
Speaker 1: Alfonso succeeded in bringing about a constitutional democracy by running
Speaker 1: the monarchy into the ground. That said, while the monarchy
Speaker 1: itself had dissolved, the symbolic role that Alfonso had been
Speaker 1: expected to play didn't. In the nineteen thirties, many people
Speaker 1: still longed for a military hero that would save the country.
Speaker 1: It was the same thing the nation had longed for
Speaker 1: when Alfonso was born, a symbol of the greatness of
Speaker 1: their nation incarnate in a single person. But this time
Speaker 1: that figure wouldn't be a king. He would be a fascist.
Speaker 1: After three year years of civil war, Francisco Franco came
Speaker 1: into power in nineteen thirty nine, officially establishing fascism in Spain.
Speaker 1: Franco and Alfonso the thirteenth were politically aligned. Franco started
Speaker 1: out his military career fighting to conquer Morocco in the
Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, one of Alfonso's pet projects. Franco became the
Speaker 1: youngest officer to be promoted to general, and he credited
Speaker 1: that war with his political awakening, But in practice, Franco
Speaker 1: and Alfonso were, if you forgive the term, frenemies. Franco
Speaker 1: called himself a royalist and aligned himself with conservatives who
Speaker 1: believed in the divine right of kings. Franco had a
Speaker 1: long cordial correspondence with Alfonso the thirteenth, who was in exile,
Speaker 1: where Franco assured him that he would restore the monarchy eventually,
Speaker 1: but behind Alfonso's back, Franco talked about Alfonso as a
Speaker 1: relic of yesteryear and a political liability. After a few
Speaker 1: years of Franco stringing him along, Alfonso realized that Franco
Speaker 1: was never going to restore his power. He officially abdicated
Speaker 1: the throne in nineteen forty one, while Franco called himself
Speaker 1: a royalist. He had one issue with the monarchy. It
Speaker 1: prevented him from achieving absolute power, so he stripped the
Speaker 1: monarchy for parts and reconstructed it to justify his dictatorship.
Speaker 1: He moved into the Royal Palace and wore the captain
Speaker 1: general's uniform, just like Alfonso had. He conducted official business
Speaker 1: under a canopy, as if he were sitting on a throne.
Speaker 1: He created coins with his face on them, embossed with
Speaker 1: a title usually reserved for kings. Francisco Franco Leader of
Speaker 1: Spain by the grace of God. Like Alfonso, Franco did
Speaker 1: not create a system of government that could survive him.
Speaker 1: He kept his promise of reinstating the monarchy, albeit decades later.
Speaker 1: Franco decided that after his death, Alfonso the thirteenth grandson,
Speaker 1: Juan Carlos the First, would be the king of Spain,
Speaker 1: and Juan Carlos remains the king in Spain to this day.
Speaker 1: Alfonso's legacy is a complicated one. While you could probably
Speaker 1: correctly argue that Alfonso opened the door for fascism in Spain,
Speaker 1: what makes his legacy so complicated is that he didn't
Speaker 1: actually do that much. He had an ambiguous role in
Speaker 1: the political crisises that defined his rule, like the war
Speaker 1: in Morocco and the series of dictatorships that started with
Speaker 1: Prima der Rivera and ended with Franco, but it's hard
Speaker 1: to know exactly how much responsibility to ascribe to Alfonso.
Speaker 1: Alfonso did not unify Spain, but he also didn't destroy it.
Speaker 1: Seeing this as a success or a failure reveals much
Speaker 1: more about what we expect of monarchs, especially monarchs in
Speaker 1: the twentieth century, than anything specific about Alfonso or his decisions.
Speaker 1: Alfonso's story lays bare the power of these expectations for
Speaker 1: the monarchy. Nostalgia for the old Spain, as well as
Speaker 1: the hope that a single person might fix a whole
Speaker 1: country buoyed Alfonso's rule through decades of turmoil, but it
Speaker 1: also created such a high bar that he could never
Speaker 1: live up to it. Franco exploited those dreams of unification
Speaker 1: in order to remake the monarchy in his own image,
Speaker 1: and these romantic visions of history, of dynastic power and
Speaker 1: nationalism still keep monarchy alive in the twenty first century.
Speaker 1: Alfonso the thirteenth reminds us that monarchy is not inevitable.
Speaker 1: It needs us more than we need it, and being
Speaker 1: a good king requires more than doing nothing, but letting
Speaker 1: people grow accustomed to the feeling of a single nationalist
Speaker 1: hero who takes care of everything. That's the story of
Speaker 1: Alfonso the Thirteenth. But stick around after a brief sponsor
Speaker 1: break to hear how Alfonso actually inspired a writer to
Speaker 1: create the Spanish tooth fairy. Oh, this is a left
Speaker 1: turn from fascism, but it's a great story. In eighteen
Speaker 1: ninety four, when Alfonso the thirteenth was just eight years old,
Speaker 1: he lost his first tooth. This may not seem like
Speaker 1: a big deal, but this is the boy king we're
Speaker 1: talking about. So to celebrate the occasion, Alfonso's mother, Maria Christina,
Speaker 1: commissioned the writer Luis Coloma to write a story. Colomba
Speaker 1: seemed like a slightly unusual choice for the role. He
Speaker 1: was a Jesuit priest who at the time was most
Speaker 1: famous for writing and explosive novel that satirized the Spanish
Speaker 1: upper class. But Maria Cristina was familiar with him from
Speaker 1: his time as a spiritual advisor to the crown, and
Speaker 1: he had already tried his hand at writing a book
Speaker 1: of children's stories, Coloma decided to base his story on
Speaker 1: a folk tale that had been circulating orally throughout Spain
Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century about a clever mouse that leaves
Speaker 1: a coin under a child's pillow in exchange for a
Speaker 1: lost tooth, just like the Tooth fairy. Coloma named his
Speaker 1: mouse Rotancito Perez and set the story in Madrid, on
Speaker 1: the streets surrounding the palace so the environment would feel
Speaker 1: familiar to the young Alfonso. Rottancito Perez lived with his
Speaker 1: family in a cookie box from the famous Very Real
Speaker 1: Prost Confectionery, which was just a few blocks away from
Speaker 1: the palace and frequently supplied sweet treats to the young king.
Speaker 1: The story tells of a boy king named King Bubby,
Speaker 1: Bubby being Maria Christina's nickname for Alfonso, who loses his
Speaker 1: first tooth. While the court suggests that they the guild
Speaker 1: of the Tooth and save it in the royal treasury,
Speaker 1: the king's mother has Bubby write a letter to Rotencito
Speaker 1: Perez just like any normal child would do. So he
Speaker 1: does just that and stays up late, hoping to meet
Speaker 1: the mouse himself. Sure enough, Rotencito Perez arrives wearing tiny
Speaker 1: gold glasses and a straw hat. The two become best
Speaker 1: friends and go on an adventure, leaving coins for children
Speaker 1: across the city and avoiding Madrid's most notorious cats along
Speaker 1: the way. This is where Luis Colomba's sharp criticism of
Speaker 1: the Spanish bourgeoisie ultimately emerges. Rottencito Perez takes King Bobby
Speaker 1: to both rich and poor households, explaining to him that
Speaker 1: as king he must use his wealth and power to
Speaker 1: improve the lives of those less fortunate than him. The
Speaker 1: tale was published in a collection of children's stories in
Speaker 1: nineteen o two, and the tradition of leaving a tooth
Speaker 1: under one's pillow for Rottencito Perez spread throughout Spain as
Speaker 1: well as Central and Latin America. There is a bronze
Speaker 1: plaque on Kye RNL in Madrid, marking the spot where
Speaker 1: Rottencito Perez was said to live, the only time the
Speaker 1: Madrid City Council has officially recognized a fictional character. Noble
Speaker 1: Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild
Speaker 1: from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is created and hosted by
Speaker 1: me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannaswick,
Speaker 1: Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is
Speaker 1: edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and rima Il Kahali,
Speaker 1: with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.