The Education of a Prince
MOWRER, RICHARD
Franco and Pretender continue to squabble over young heir to Spain's throne The Education of a Prince By Richard Mowrer Madrid Relations between General Franco, Caudillo of Spain, and Don Juan...
...Shortly afterward, it was announced that Don Juan's eldest son, 10-year-old Juan Carlos, would receive his schooling in Spain...
...Franco was ready and willing to publicly designate Juan Carlos as Spain's future king, but Don Juan's refusal to "abdicate' in favor of his son complicated matters...
...He is a healthy 61 and politically more secure than ever, thanks to the alliance with America and the recent Concordat with the Vatican...
...Alfonso...
...Yet, every now and then they are obliged to discuss, through intermediaries or face to face, the education of the boy who may be Spain's next king...
...Franco did not insist...
...So far...
...there is no hint as to whose views regarding Juan Carlos's future education will prevail...
...A year later, Don Juan angrily had his son taken out of Spain when it became apparent that the agreement reached on the high seas was not, as he had supposed, a first step toward a restoration with himself as king...
...But in 1950 things were patched up somewhat and Juan Carlos resumed his studies at San Sebastian, this time in the company of his younger brother...
...He can afford to wait...
...Franco's plan reportedly calls for two years at a Spanish military or naval academy, where the boy would be treated like any other cadet: then two years at Madrid University, followed by two years at a graduate engineering school...
...Technically, 41-year-old Don Juan is next in line for the throne which his father, Alfonso XIII, vacated in 1931...
...Last year...
...Meanwhile, the royal youth is happily vacationing with his brother and parents aboard the yacht Saltillo, somewhere in the Mediterranean...
...Franco is believed to favor the Navy school at Marin, in his native Galicia...
...But Franco, who has had his eye on Juan Carlos as his eventual successor, is known to have other ideas...
...Last June, Juan Carlos passed his college-entrance examinations, and once again the question of his education is up for discussion between father and Caudillo...
...Characteristically, Franco did not tell his ministers of the projected visit—they learned about it when it was all over...
...And the blond, handsome boy prince is only 16...
...Don Juan has said hard things about the regime, and, besides, Franco regards him as too much of an Anglophile...
...A decision is due before the school year begins...
...The Law of Succession which he pushed through in 1947 does not say just when this is to happen, but it does specify that Franco may at any time nominate his royal successor (and then fire him if he wants to...
...But Franco won't have him...
...For four consecutive years, the two princes, together with a group of 14 boys from aristocratic families, received special tutoring, spending their holidays in Portugal with their parents...
...Thus, in August 1948 Don Juan, aboard his yacht Saltillo, and Franco, aboard his yacht Azor, met secretly off the northern coast of Spain...
...Franco long ago pledged a restoration of the Monarch...
...The Caudillo intends to by-pass the Pretender and hand over the throne (eventually) to Juan Carlos...
...Friends of Don Juan say that the Pretender wants to send his first-born to Louvain University in Belgium...
...Franco and Pretender continue to squabble over young heir to Spain's throne The Education of a Prince By Richard Mowrer Madrid Relations between General Franco, Caudillo of Spain, and Don Juan de Bourbon, exiled Pretender to the Spanish throne, have never been cordial...
...The son of a Navy man, Franco himself was slated at the age of 15 to embark on a naval career, but the Spanish-American war spoiled that—the depleted Spanish fleet had more cadets than it could absorb, so young Francisco went to the Army...
Vol. 37 • August 1954 • No. 34
