The Enigma of Juan Carlos

Of all the uncertainties and imponderables that lie ahead for Spain, none is more baffling than the personage of Prince Juan Carlos Alphonso Victor Maria de Borbon y Borbon, grandson of King Alphonso XIII of Spain and great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria of England. He was chosen by Franco in 1969 to ascend the throne after his death, in the hope that the royal scion would assure an orderly succession and maintain the stern, one-party system that the dictator had created. Whether the enigmatic Prince, 36, can meet these hopes is as problematical as the currents of suppressed rage and rebellion that course through Spain. Some hard-line conservatives perceive the Prince as a weakling incapable of wielding power. Their choice may be Juan Carlos' cousin, Don Alfonso de Borbon y Dampierre, 38, husband of Franco's granddaughter.

Traditional monarchists regard the Prince as a puppet of the Caudillo and prefer Juan Carlos' father, Don Juan, 61, the rightful pretender who is now in Portugal. Some liberals and radicals would rather have no monarchy at all. Only the army is solidly behind the Prince's accession--but it would abandon him if he should show signs of disturbing the status quo. Prince Juan Carlos himself, hovering last week over Franco's sickbed, remained an inscrutable figure.

Born amid the bloody chaos of the Spanish Civil War, he was shuttled with his family from one place of exile to another. At the age of ten the Prince was sent to Spain for the first time, alone, to be groomed for the throne by Franco.

There was fear that the boy might be the victim of hemophilia, the congenital blood disease that was transmitted to the Borbons by Queen Victoria's granddaughter. But the Prince was a healthy, if lonely child. Now 6 ft. 2 in. and athletic, Juan Carlos was even spared the heavy "Hapsburg" lower lip that is characteristic of his family.

Juan Carlos' education consisted of rigorous training in military academies and indoctrination in Franco's authoritarian philosophy. When the Caudillo officially selected him over Don Juan as the future King, his father's resentment increased the Prince's isolation. Franco has made Juan Carlos keep a low political profile. His few official functions, like cutting ribbons and dedicating projects, have been largely ceremonial. His public utterances have revealed little of his ideas about ruling Spain and his future role as King.

The Prince lives at state expense in the 20-room Zarzuela Palace, northwest of Madrid, with his wife, Princess Sofia of Greece, and their three children, Elena, 10, Cristina, 9, and Felipe, 6. He regularly receives important officials in Franco's regime at the palace and sometimes members of the "loyal opposition" and moderate liberals. Visitors report that he is better informed and more intelligent than his reputation suggests. His public image reflects the traditional sporting interests of a princeling. He is often photographed wearing his black karate belt or sailing his Dragon-class La Fortuna; he represented Spain in sailing competitions at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He also pilots a jet and a helicopter.

The U.S. State Department will certainly welcome Juan Carlos' accession, since it means a continuation of Franco's friendly policy toward America. The Prince's first act last week as temporary chief of state was to sign a joint U.S.-Spanish declaration of principles on military cooperation negotiated under Franco. It calls for "appropriate measures" for mutual defense in case of an attack on either nation.

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