On Friday, March 30, 1956, Francisco Franco ordered the Spanish embassy in Lisbon to issue a statement: “While His Highness the Infante Alfonso was cleaning a revolver that night with his brothera shot was fired that hit him in the forehead and killed him in a few minutes.” Alfonsito was 14 years old and Juan Carlos was 18. The tragedy marked the history of our monarchy, and, although many theories still revolve around what happened between brothers, there are those who say they know the truth. This is the case of Luis María Anson.
The journalist, who turns 90 this Thursday, has given an extensive interview to The Spanish in which he has spoken, among other things, about the Spanish Royal House, and among the topics he has addressed is the death of Alfonso de Borbón. “I know that intimately. Among other things because I was in Estoril taking Don Alfonsito's body to the cemetery.” Believe me, I'll tell you exactly what happened,” he continues in his conversation.
The former newspaper editor ABC He has maintained a very good relationship with the emeritus king for decades, as was the case with his father, Don Juan. Shortly before the tragedy occurred he had been playing a game of ping pong with Alfonsito. According to him, his brother had already received warnings from his father that he should be careful with the gun he received from the Academy. He took her to Estoril, where he shot trees. “You can't do that. Imagine that you miss a shot and wound or kill someone.”Don Juan told the young man, who later asked his mother for the gun “to shoot in Cascais.” She hesitated to give it to him, but she finally did. “She would then get alcohol poisoning, poor thing, and López Ibor would have to treat her.”
According to the founder of The reason, it all started when young Juan Carlos asked his brother to bring “some tortilla sandwiches” to the room where they were playing. “When Alfonsito returns and tries to enter, Don Juan Carlos kicks the door to prevent him. Two or three times like this. Alfonsito rushes in. Don Juan Carlos, who had that parlor pistol with a smooth trigger in his hand, the gun is fired. The shot enters his forehead.”, it states. When his father heard the shot, he realized what had happened “on the spot.” “What I feared has happened,” he said to himself. And, although he tried to help the little boy, he “was already dead.”
Juan Carlos's reaction was to lock himself in. “He went down, saw the tragedy, went up to his room and locked himself in. Antonio Eraso, who was a friend of his, showed up there. After seeing him, he told don Juan: 'I'm very worried, sir. You can't imagine under what circumstances “He's there. He told me that he's a Carthusian.” Don Juan told him to come down. A terrible scene. He took Don Juan Carlos's hand, put it on Don Alfonsito's chest and told him: “You are going to swear on the chest of your dead brother that you are going to fulfill your dynastic obligations.”. And she swore it. “This is the real story.”
In defense of Letizia
Anson explains that, since then, Sadness invaded the life of Felipe VI's father. “Don Juan Carlos had a very happy look. He lost it and never recovered it. As soon as he remains still, that shadow of sadness appears in his eyes. His tutor, Eugenio Vegas Latapié, told it very well. Don Juan Carlos adored his little brother. A tragedy. Now, after so much time, we begin to tell these things…”, he points out in his talk, in which He has also mentioned Doña Letizia, whose arrival at the Royal House was “a blessing.” He met her when she was an intern at the ABC and, since then, he has met her on several occasions.
He defends her from the hatred that has stalked her since she married Don Felipe. “He had had three or four girlfriends before. He realized something very important: Today, the state marriage has to be a marriage of love because otherwise the people reject it. That didn't happen a hundred years ago. At the same time, the person chosen must have the talent and ability to play that role. Don Felipe married for love and with an excellent queen. They were given six months. Then they reduced them to three.”
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