Tragedy of Juan Carlos' brother Alfonso

[Alexandra]

Do you know anything about the tragic shooting accident in 1954, when Juan Carlos accidentally shot his younger brother. I have read something about it, and searched in the Internet about the occurance, but i have not found much. Of cource it was terrific thing to happen and perhaps not much of it is ever revealed in public. What a dreadful time it must have been to poor young Juan Carlos.

[thissal]

"Only King Juan Carlos will ever know what really happened on the evening before Good Friday, 1956. He was 18 and whiling away the holiday with his 14-year-old brother, Alfonso, in a bedroom of the exiled royal family's home in Estoril, Portugal. The blond "Don Alfonsito" had won a local junior golf tournament earlier in the day, gone to evening Mass and rushed up to the room to see the big brother who had come home for the holidays from military school.
According to an official statement from the royal household: "While His Highness, the Prince Alfonso, was cleaning a revolver with his brother, a shot went off which hit him in the forehead and killed him within a few minutes."

Which of the two royal brothers, if either, pulled the trigger may never be known but Juan Carlos himself was said at the time to have admitted to friends and family that he "felt responsible". As a military cadet. he would have been aware of the danger of loaded guns, as indeed would have Alfonso, already a keen hunter and marksman who had bagged a stag and proudly displayed its horns in the family home. Both, it seemed certain, would have been drilled not to clean loaded guns.

The two boys had been exceptionally close throughout their exiled childhood, while Franco ruled Spain, and no one doubted that young Alfonso's death had been a tragic accident.

Juan Carlos, friends said, was traumatised by the death of his only brother and never really got over it.

The shooting of March 29th, 1956, received little publicity under Franco's regime. But thousands of royalists took the risk of crossing to Portugal, many carrying bags of Spanish soil to throw on Alfonso's grave. Even after Franco's death and the resurgence of the monarchy, the shooting was played down in the media, and usually described as un accidente fortuito - a chance accident. Persistent reports from staff of the royal household at the time, however, referred to a pistol and shotgun, with the latter going off."

http://www.snopes.com/spoons/noose/juan.htm

[Alexandria]

Thank you for the article Thissal. I had read about the incident here and there hearing bits and pieces but never a full account. I found the part about royalists risking the trip to Portugal to throw Spanish soil on Alfonso's grave particularly touching. The guilt and sadness King Juan Carlos must feel over his only brother's death must be immense to say the least. How tragic.

[Jo]

i thought alfonso was older.

[Chanel]

No Alfonso is Younger, but, was his body later removed from Potugal and moved to Spain?

Alfonso XIII, Queen Victoria Eugenie and Infante Gonzalo have all been moved from their original resting places to the royal valts in El Escorial (sp). Why not Don Alfonso? Anyone know if his casket is waiting to be added to the royal vault in the Pavilion of Princes?

Any info would be great. Thanks,

Chanel

[rattie21]

New article on this topic in this months Royalty magazine. They interviewed people that were at the time of the tragedy and still are close friends of JC's apparently it was a prank that went wrong and that it was JC that fired the gun.

[Elsa M.]

Originally Posted by chanel

was his body later removed from Potugal and moved to Spain?

Yes. The young prince was burried in Portugal, but then moved to the Monastery of El Escorial, after the monarchy was restored in Spain.

[princess leonor]

Oh my God, that's terrible. I'm completely shocked. I'd never heard about Alfonsito's death before. I knew that he died young, but this So tragic, makes you wonder how this changes Juan Carlos' life!

[Heidi P.]

What a horrible incident. It is amazing JC has coped as well as he has, given how close the two were and the circumstances surrounding his brother's death. No wonder this story is rarely repeated.

[Avalon]

I haven't heard of it either. I knew there was some sort of incident but didn't know what exactly happened.
It must be terrible, to be in a way responsible for the death of a close person.

Here's a link with the picture of Alfonso, soon before his death (I am not sure about the exact date but it appears to be a part of family picture).

From Hellomagazine.com

[lisamaria]

It's interesting how these things get coloured and twisted and changed over the course of time. Here in Finland, when the King last time visited, it was told that it was a) a rifle, b) JC was cleaning it and it accidentally fired, c) Alfonso was in the next room and the bullets went through a closed door, hitting him and d) it happened in El Escorial. It was also said that the King was a happy fellow before and wanted to join the church after - it was an absolutely terrifying experience to him. And no wonder.

There were several pictures of the entire Royal Family in the annoversary edition of the Spanish magazine Semana, including many of the young Alfonso. Let's see if I'll come around and post them.

[grevinnan]

I have always wondered why is living such a reckless life in regard to his affairs. This story may hold some of the insight.