by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025
Left to Right – Infante Juan Carlos (the future King Juan Carlos), his father Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, and his brother Infante Alfonso in 1950; Credit – Wikipedia
Fourteen-year-old Infante Alfonso of Spain was killed by a gun on March 29, 1956, while in a bedroom with his eighteen-year-old elder brother, the future King Juan Carlos I of Spain. Since that day, what happened in that bedroom, who pulled the trigger, and whether or not it was an accident have been unclear. No judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the firearms accident took place at the time. In his 2025 memoir “Reconciliation”, Juan Carlos revealed, for the first time, what happened. See the last paragraph below.
Juan Carlos and Alfonso were the sons of Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona and Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Their paternal grandparents were King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Their maternal grandparents were Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and his second wife, Princess Louise of Orléans.
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 was officially never publicly known. However, 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.
Infante Alfonso was originally buried at the municipal cemetery in Cascais, Portugal. In October 1992, he was reburied in the Pantheon of Infantes at the Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain.
Tomb of Infante Alfonso in the Pantheon of Infantes at the Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain; Credit – www.findagrave.com
In November 2025, former King Juan Carlos I of Spain’s memoir “Reconciliation” was published. In his memoir, Juan Carlos reveals for the first time how he shot and killed his brother when they were teenagers. Juan Carlos tells his readers: “I will not recover from this tragedy. Its gravity will accompany me forever. I didn’t like to talk about it, and this is the first time I do.” Juan Carlos explained that the pistol’s magazine had been removed, so he thought it posed no danger. He wrote: “We had taken out the magazine. We had no idea there was a bullet left in the chamber. A shot was fired into the air, the bullet ricocheted, and struck my brother squarely in the forehead. He died in our father’s arms. I lost a friend, a confidant. He left a huge void. Without his death, my life would have been less bleak, less unhappy.”
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Works Cited
- Burgen, S. (2025). Disgraced former king of Spain’s memoir details “enormous respect” for Franco. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/05/disgraced-former-king-of-spains-memoir-details-enormous-respect-for-franco
- Flantzer, Susan. (2022). Infante Alfonso of Spain | Unofficial Royalty. Unofficialroyalty.com. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/infante-alfonso-of-spain/
- Garfinkel, I. (2025). Spain’s former King Juan Carlos reveals for first time how he shot and killed his brother when they were teenagers. Mail Online; Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-15264263/Spains-former-King-Juan-Carlos-reveals-time-shot-killed-brother-teenagers.html
- Henderson, L. (2025). Spain’s former King Juan Carlos shares how he killed his brother when they were teenagers. GB News. https://www.gbnews.com/royal/king-juan-carlos-spain-killing
