King Charles Should Take a Lesson From His Spanish Cousin

The kings of Spain and the UK share the same great-great-great grandmother in Britain’s Queen Victoria. And while the two monarchies have faced different adversities in the century-plus since the 1901 death of their common ancestor, they are often caught up in similar dilemmas. The House of Windsor is now in the middle of a crisis much like one the House of Bourbon survived a dozen years ago. Are there lessons Charles III can learn from his distant cousin Felipe VI?

The Spanish royal house — la casa de Borbón— was once an icon of democracy. On Feb. 23, 1981 — 45 years ago this week — King Juan Carlos backed the civilian government against a military coup attempt that sought to reinstate the fascist legacy of General Francisco Franco. The dictator, who died in 1975, had groomed Juan Carlos as his heir, but the royal stood with Spain’s transition to electoral democracy and faced down rebel soldiers who’d held the Spanish parliament hostage. That heroism won him (and his dynasty) the good will of the Spanish electorate for decades.