- History. A Cuban, a disease ... The story of the true successor of Alfonso XIII who would have prevented his nephew, Don Juan Carlos, from reigning.
- Monarchy: King Juan Carlos' uncle: heir to the throne for 10 days and died in strange circumstances
On the same day as yesterday, exactly 100 years ago , Alfonso XIII elevated Madrid Football Club to a category, in this case not a league, but rather giving it the status of a real that the white team has had ever since. Eighteen years had passed since the foundation of the club and, as we say, on June 29, 1920 the King initialed the Palace document granting the title of Royal to the club and allowing it to take precedence over its name. , as it has happened continuously throughout this century, with the exception of the Second Republic period, between 1931 and 1939.
Alfonso XIII was the first soccer king of our country. This sport, as we know it today, had been invented in the mid-19th century and in the Spain in which Don Felipe's great-grandfather reigned, it began to become increasingly popular. It was already raging in England. And Alfonso XIII was a particularly Anglophile monarch, at least in terms of taste, who embraced many of the fashions of the Court of San Jaime. The fact is that, before Madrid, the sovereign had granted the title of real to a good handful of Spanish clubs, such as the two germ teams of the current Real Club Deportivo de la Coruña , the Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona or the Sociedad de San Sebastián and the Santander Football Society , among others. In the case of these last two clubs, we must not forget the great involvement that the Royal Family had in both Cantabrian cities, official headquarters of the Bourbon summer for many decades.
To be considered real teams, the clubs had to carry out complex and sometimes lengthy procedures, based on a request to the Palace, where a file was opened. And it must be emphasized that it always helped that the request for this grace to the Monarch, who represented a great pride, was led by some illustrious personage of the Court of the time. Another trick was also used that was a compliment to the King, which we have already said that he became very fond of football, and that was to ask him to accept the honorary presidency of the club. In the case of Madrid, once he was promoted to Real Madrid, not the Monarch, but his eldest son, the then Prince of Asturias, Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg, came to occupy this position.
It was not football, however, the main hobby of Alfonso XIII, a King who had so many hobbies that there was no lack of criticism during his reign for certain neglect of the affairs of State that were his own. It is well known that the Monarch's greatest hobbies were his innumerable affairs. The relations with famous artists of his time and all kinds of voluptuous women of Don Juan Carlos's grandfather would give for a very long soap opera. And to the francachelas with his aristocratic court of friends and to the excesses of extramarital affairs he devoted hours and hours.
But, beyond women, one of the passions of Alfonso XIII, which he inherited from his father, Alfonso XII, and which would pass genetically until the present Emeritus was hunting. Not surprising, on the other hand, since hunting has been one of the most common hobbies among royalty until today. Alfonso XIII, who wrote everything down from a young age in his royal newspaper, killed his first rabbit at the end of 1901. He was 15 years old. In Madrid, the Monarch used to hunt in the Casa de Campo -then, an exclusive area for the Royal Family-, the Pardo mountains or the banks of the Manzanares. Historians conclude that hunting was undoubtedly the matter to which he devoted the most time before having to go into exile, in 1931.
In the 1907-1908 season, the barbarity of almost 8,000 pieces was collected . Among his regular companions were the Duke of Alba, the Duke of Medinaceli, the Duke of Infantado or the Marquis of Someruelos.
Returning to sports, Alfonso XIII was a great fan of several of them. To start horse riding . In his youth he practiced polo, especially at the Madrid Hippodrome, but also at La Granja de Segovia, where the Royal Family spent long periods.
We have said before that the Monarch embraced many English fashions. And tennis was one of them. He began to hook the racket in his summers in San Sebastián. In the Basque city, Santander and other towns on the Cantabrian coast, he was also able to give free rein to his love of water sports. As we see, this passion has also been inherited by his current descendants.
The photograph - a hobby rather novel at the beginning of the twentieth century and the emerging cinema -the collection of porn little movies that hoarded the monarch is well famosa- were other entertainment of a King with a reputation for capricious. It cannot be forgotten that we are dealing with someone who was born as a king - his father, Alfonso XII, died months before he came into the world. And the flattering treatment that the Court gave him as a child helped to forge in him a fickle character.
Finally, the review of Alfonso XIII's favorite pastimes would not be complete without an allusion to cars . In 1913, the Catalan company Hispano Suiza presented its Alfonso XIII model, named after the Monarch, who throughout his life treasured some of the most sophisticated cars of the time.
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