Alfonso, King of Spain

There have been many Spanish kings named Alfonso, which is a popular name in Spain, but the one remembered best today is Alfonso X I I I , who was the last king of Spain. One remarkable thing about Alfonso XIII is that he became king the minute he was born, which was in the year 1886, because his father had died before he was born.

He grew up during a period in which the Spanish people had become tired of kings and wanted to have a republic. King Alfonso was a brave and clever man who was very well liked by those who knew him, but he was not a good ruler. He turned the government over to a dictator, General Primo de Rivera, but that only made the people more dissatisfied.

They were very poor and did not have enough jobs or enough to eat, and there were many secret revolutionary groups that plotted against the king and his bad government. Several times the Spanish army had to be called out to stop a revolution, and in January, 1931, it began to seem that even the army could no longer be depended upon to control the people. A few months later, in April, 1931, Alfonso saw that he could no longer be king, and he abdicated and left the country. Spain became a republic. Read also the article on SPAIN.