Infante Alfonso of Spain

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Infante Alfonso of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

Fourteen-year-old Infante Alfonso was killed by a gun on March 29, 1956, while in a bedroom with his elder brother, the future King Juan Carlos I of Spain. What happened in that bedroom, who pulled the trigger, and whether or not it was an accident are still unclear.

Alfonso Cristino Teresa Ángelo Francisco de Asís y Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón Dos-Sicilias was born on October 3, 1941, in Rome, Italy, where his family had settled after the Spanish monarchy was overthrown in 1931 and Spain became a Republic. He was the youngest of the four children and the second of the two sons of Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona and Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Alfonso’s paternal grandparents were King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. His maternal grandparents were Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and his second wife Princess Louise of Orléans.

Alfonso had three elder siblings:

Juan Carlos, Juan, Count of Barcelona, and Alfonso in 1950; Credit – Von Paco Marí – This image belongs to the Marín Collection and was provided to GureGipuzkoa by Hauxe Quelle: Kutxa Fototeka (Kutxa Photograph Library). The image has been delivered under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license and can be found here. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56196709

In the summer of 1942, the family moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where Alfonso’s paternal grandmother Queen Victoria Eugenie lived in exile. Four years later, the family moved to Estoril, Portugal, where a permanent family home was established. In 1950, Alfonso and his brother Juan Carlos were sent to study in San Sebastián, Spain where a private school had been established at the Miramar Palace. By 1956, Alfonso was continuing with his high school studies, while his brother Juan Carlos had begun military training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, Spain.

In March 1956, 14-year-old Alfonso and 18-year-old Juan Carlos traveled to Portugal to spend the Easter holidays in Estoril with their parents and two sisters. On March 29, 1956, Holy Thursday, the entire family attended Mass in the morning. In the afternoon, Alfonso participated in a local junior golf tournament. The whole family attended evening Mass at 6:00 PM. After returning home, Alfonso and Juan Carlos went upstairs to their bedroom. Around 8:30 PM, Alfonso was shot with a .22 caliber revolver. When the boys’ father went upstairs, he found his youngest son had been shot in the head and was lying in a pool of blood. Despite his father’s efforts to revive him, Alfonso died in his father’s arms.

The Spanish Embassy in Portugal issued an official press release:

While His Highness the Infante Alfonso was cleaning a revolver last evening with his brother, a shot was fired hitting his forehead and killing him in a few minutes. The accident took place at 20.30 hours, after the Infante’s return from the Maundy Thursday religious service, during which he had received Holy Communion.

Which of the two brothers pulled the trigger may never be publically known but at that time Juan Carlos was said to have admitted to family and friends that he felt responsible. As a military cadet, he would have been aware of the danger of loaded guns. Alfonso also would have been aware of the danger because he participated in hunting. It seems certain that both boys would have been repeatedly told not to clean loaded guns. Even the origin of the gun is in doubt. According to one story, the gun was given to Alfonso by Francisco Franco, the dictator of Spain. According to another story, Juan Carlos received the gun as a gift from Francisco Moreno y Zuleta, Count de los Andes while he was studying at the military academy. The boys’ mother said that Juan Carlos and Alfonso brought a small pistol back from Spain but they never told her who gave it to them. Afterward, the boys’ father, Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona, threw the gun into the ocean.

Tomb of Infante Alfonso of Spain; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Alfonso’s funeral, conducted by Monsignor Fernando Cento, the Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal, was held on March 31, 1956, Holy Saturday. He was buried at the municipal cemetery in Cascais, Portugal. Alfonso remained buried in Portugal for thirty-six years until, at the request of his father, his remains were transferred to Spain, during the reign of his brother King Juan Carlos I. On October 15, 1992, six months before the death of his father Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, Alfonso was interred in the Pantheon of Infantes at the Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, in a strictly private ceremony attended by Alfonso’s brother King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Alfonso’s father and mother, his two sisters, and a small group of close relatives.

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Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Infante Alfonso of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante_Alfonso_of_Spain> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Alfonso de Borbón (1941-1956) – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_de_Borb%C3%B3n_(1941-1956)> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Independent. 1992. Juan Carlos lays to rest a haunting Spanish tragedy. [online] Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/juan-carlos-lays-to-rest-a-haunting-spanish-tragedy-1557621.html?fbclid=IwAR3AEUoXNkeovi2ZpBIYqEgFaQjmrR6il56JZj_9zyEvokMarAEhU6HgR1o> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1956. Don Juan’s Son Is Killed In Spanish Gun Accident. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/03/30/94288384.html?pageNumber=3> [Accessed 24 June 2022].