Juan Carlos Held Reins During Rocky Times
Updated: 2:20pm UK, Monday 02 June 2014
Juan Carlos may have been tainted by recent scandals, but he can abdicate knowing he has led his country through some very testing times.
One of the most testing was when he helped bring an end to a failed coup that nearly sent Spain - now a member of the EU - back to being ruled by a military junta in 1981.
Soon after politicians were pictured cowering under their benches as armed guards burst into parliament, Juan Carlos appeared on television in his green military uniform ordering an end to the revolt.
He said: "I have ordered the civil authorities and the chiefs of staff to take the necessary measures to maintain constitutional order."
It's now largely forgotten in Britain how close one of Europe's most powerful countries came to reverting to military dictatorship.
Juan Carlos kept his son Felipe, then aged 13, at his side throughout the crisis.
"I wanted him to see what one has to do when one is king," he said later.
For years, the Royal family remained popular as Spain emerged from being one of the EU's poorer countries to being one of its most powerful.
After the Madrid train bombings in March 2004, Juan Carlos and his wife Queen Sofia threw protocol aside at a memorial service when they comforted the families of some of the 191 people killed.
But, with the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, things began to change.
Juan Carlos' image was dealt a blow after he went on a luxury elephant-hunting safari in April 2012 as his subjects struggled in a recession, during which one in four people was unemployed.
Then, his family became embroiled in a corruption investigation when a judge indicted former Olympic handball player Inaki Urdangarin, the husband of the king's youngest daughter Cristina, who has also been accused of involvement.
He has also suffered long term health problems, undergoing surgery nine times between 2010 and 2013.
But, despite the setbacks, history may in time be kinder to him.
He is regarded as playing a determining role in Spain's modern history by stepping up as the first crowned head of state in 44 years, after the death of Franco.
He then defied the hopes of the Francoists for an extension of autocratic rule and instead oversaw the creation of a new system of parliamentary monarchy, with a new constitution that was approved by referendum in 1978.
Without his guiding hand, the country many people regard as their favourite holiday destination could have remained being run by those who followed a similar ideology to Adolf Hitler.
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