Juan Carlos I, the exiled former King of Spain, has spoken out on the tragic death of his younger brother Infante Alfonso of Spain, and the guilt that continues to haunt him almost 70 years later
An exiled royal has broken their silence on a devastating tragedy that changed their life forever.
On the evening of March 29, 1956, shortly before Easter Sunday, a catastrophe unfolded within the Spanish royal household, with the death of a teenage prince casting a dark shadow over the family. Now, almost 70 years later, the brother who fired the fatal shot has spoken out.
At 14 years old, Infante Alfonso of Spain was already “the light that shone in the family”, with the charismatic, talented prince known to be the favourite son of Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona. As grandchildren of Alfonso XIII, the King of Spain, Alfonso and his siblings bore plenty of responsibility from an early age, but there was also time for fun.
At the time of his death, Alfonso had been enjoying an Easter break with his family at Villa Giralda in Estoril, on the Portuguese Riviera. His final day had started out so happily, with the gifted golfer having won a local junior golf tournament. Even better, his elder brother, the future Juan Carlos I, was back from military school for the holidays.
After attending evening mass, Alfonso dashed away to see the then 18-year-old Juan Carlos. It was then that the unthinkable happened.
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In the years that followed, the story of what really happened next varied slightly, but the terrible outcome remains the same. A pistol was fired, and a bullet entered the forehead of the younger prince. By the time the Count of Barcelona rushed to the playroom, Alfonso was lying in a pool of his own blood. The bereft father was left helpless as his favourite child died in his arms.
The following day, under the orders of dictator Francisco Franco, the Spanish embassy in Lisbon issued the following statement: “While His Highness the Infante Alfonso was cleaning a revolver [on the night of March 29] with his brother, a shot was fired that hit his forehead and killed him. The accident occurred at 8:30 p.m., after the Infante returned from the religious service on Holy Thursday, during which he had received Holy Communion.”
However, as reported by El País, the Italian press published a different version of the tragic event, asserting that Juan Carlos had been holding the pistol and that his finger had been on the trigger when the deadly bullet was fired.
Meanwhile, the boys’ mother, Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, said that Juan Carlos had jokingly aimed the gun at Alfonso, and pulled the trigger without realising it was loaded.
Now, in his new memoir, Réconciliation, Juan Carlos has opened up about the tragedy that would haunt him for the rest of his life, recalling how he and his younger brother had been ‘playing’ with the weapon when it went off.
Writing 11 years after his abdication and exile, the now 87-year-old shared: “I will not recover from this tragedy. Its gravity will accompany me forever. We had taken out the magazine. We had no idea there was a bullet left in the chamber. A shot was fired into the air, the bullet ricocheted and struck my brother squarely in the forehead. He died in our father’s arms.”
According to Antonio Eraso, a friend of Alfonso’s, after covering his son’s body with a Spanish flag, the Count then turned to his surviving son, demanding, “Swear to me it wasn’t on purpose.” Juan Carlos recalls his father shaking him as the nightmare continued to unfold.
There was no judicial investigation into Alfonso’s death, and an autopsy was never performed, prompting all sorts of speculation over the years. After the teenager was buried in the Cascais cemetery on March 31, 1956, his devastated father threw the pistol into the ocean, and the family was left to contend with the unfathomable shock.
For Juan Carlos, his relationship with his father, the Count, was forever fractured. He reflected: “There is a before and an after. It is still difficult for me to speak of it, and I think of it every day … I miss him; I wish I could have him by my side and talk with him. I lost a friend, a confidant. He left me with an immense emptiness. Without his death, my life would have been less dark, less unhappy.”
Juan Carlos ascended to the throne in 1975, but his reign was marked by scandal and unpopularity. The lavish monarch was criticised for his many extramarital affairs and also faced allegations of tax fraud. However, the final straw came in 2012 when details emerged of his opulent elephant hunting excursion in Botswana at a time when tens of thousands of his struggling countrymen were out of work.
After 39 controversial years on the throne, Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014, handing power to his son, Felipe VI. In 2020, he left for the United Arab Emirates amid allegations of financial misconduct, money-laundering and corruption.
For many in Spain, Juan Carlos remains a divisive figure, but those close to him have previously shed light on a different side to the disgraced monarch, behind the extravagance. In a 2023 podcast, Corinna Larsen, Juan Carlos’s former lover, discussed the impact Alfonso’s death had made on the ex-king, revealing: “I think, deep down in his soul and in his head, he feels a lot of guilt. He has nightmares about it.”
“He told me that his younger brother was the really bright one, the handsome one, the best golfer, his parents’ favourite son. Juan Carlos is dyslexic and, despite being left-handed, they forced him to write with his right hand. He was forced to obey. He felt that his younger brother was really the light that shone in the family.”
Réconciliation is scheduled to be published in Spanish on December 3, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Franco’s death and the restoration of the Spanish monarchy.
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