Due to ill health and to give his younger, healthier son a turn on the throne. Probably for the best. The King has been pretty good for Spain, all in all, from what I’ve read - and did his greatest service in staring down the military coup of 1981.
Looks like a very appealing Royal Family: http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Princess+Letizia+Prince+Felipe+Princess+Letizia+QdFTMg5oo1_l.jpg
Once I was the King of Spain, and now I work at the Pizza Pizza.
I really really feel for Prince Charles now.
Is Generalissimo Francisco Franco still dead?
Less than 40 years on the throne? Liz must think he just got there.
This is interesting. If only we had someone on this board who could shed a little light on the matter.
Still, that finger-pointing infanta looks scary.
and when she cried, little children died in the streets
Are the peasants revolting?
The free world owes a lot to Juan Carlos. And I say that as a guy who thinks all monarchs should be hanged.
What is it with monarchs abdicating? The pope, the Queen of the Netherlands, now the King of Spain. Its not like the old days where they ruled til they died or were overthrown by an angry mob.
A lot of them are beginning to realize that the world won’t end if they want to have a retirement.
I just found out, what with this thing called “having a job where people are actually expected to work”.
About bloody time, I was beginning to think Felipe would get the job just in time for his youngest daughter to graduate college 
I don’t think anyone in Spain has really been caught by surprise. It was only a matter of time before Juan Carlos abdicated, and this is as good a time as any. As I see it, there are several key factors that have led to this decision:
Spain is in the midst of a deep crisis. International media focus on the economic aspect of this crisis, but the social and political aspects are arguably even worse. With the possible exceptions of the health care system and the armed forces, every single institution that was popular ten years ago has now lost much of that popularity. The Royal Family included
The King’s son in law has been caught in a pretty bad corruption scandal, and - fairly or not - that has tainted Juan Carlos’ public image.
Going on elephant-hunting trips in Africa will not help your reputation, except perhaps if your surname is Cheney.
The King has been dealing with health issues for a few years now. First there was a broken hip (broken during the elephant-hunting incident), and in the past few months he’s had two or three more operations. It’s clear that he can no longer deal with his job description.
Finally, there’s a strong generational element to all of this, and the King himself mentioned it in his speech this morning. Juan Carlos was instrumental in taking Spain from dictatorship to constitutional democracy, and those who were alive during the 1970s and 1980s will always be thankful for that. In fact, many in Spain call themselves ‘juancarlistas’: they are not in favour of the monarchy per se, but they are happy if the king is Juan Carlos. Now a new generation has come up, one that did not experience the hardships of the Franco era, and that therefore has little memory of Juan Carlos’ past deeds. To them (me) the former King was little other than a boring old man, whereas his son Felipe appears to be a genuinely intelligent, well-educated leader. I expect the Royal Family’s public image to improve lots in the next few months.
Sorry for the long post, one’s king does not abdicate every other day 
Specially when some of the elephants are blondes and your wife is one of the few members of the family about whom people actually have a positive opinion.
Really? I always assumed that the elephant-hunting incident was more relevant than the… blonde-shagging one. But perhaps that’s just because I like elephants more than I like the Queen
Seriously. Charles is only 12 years younger than Juan Carlos, who has already ascended to the throne, reigned for 40 years, and now abdicated in favor of his son, who is 20 years Charles’ junior. Poor guy must think he’s never going to get a chance.
My understanding based on the news articles is that Spain has no legal mechanism at the moment for power to transfer to Felipe by means of an abdication and that they’re going to be scrambling in the next few days to draft something so it can actually happen.
One of the really weird things is that Franco’s granddaughter married a descendant of Juan Carlos’ grandfather. They have one living child. Very unexpected mix of families.
If Charles ever DOES get to the throne, he’ll be the oldest English/British/UK monarch ever crowned.
Sometime in September of 2015 Elizabeth, if she lives, will become the longest reigning English/British/UK monarch, beating out her great-great grandmother Victoria. And Victoria had a headstart, being as she was eighteen when she became queen, and Elizabeth was twenty five.
Yeah, if Her Majesty lives as long as her mother did he’ll be 80 when he ascends the throne. Unlike her continental cousins she will die on the throne. The most Charles can hope for before that is for her faculties to decline enough for him to be declared Prince Regent.
There’s no legal mechanism in the UK for a monarch to abdicate either. Back in 1936 when Edward VIII abdicated he had to make an ad hoc formal declaration of his intent, then not only did the British Parliament have to pass a law declaring his brother king in his (& his heirs place) so did every other country he was king of (Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, & the Irish Free State). Edward VIII also had to give royal assent to said act (or the local viceroy assented in his name.
In Spain in appears that a full constitutional amendment (not just a mere act of the Cortez General) is needed. What’s the constitutional amendment process in Spain? Do they have to have a referendum, or just a supermajority in the Cortez General?
As a jacobite, I am ipso facto a carlist also, so I just don’t care.
However the Carlist succession has got pretty complicated over the last 50 years, so whilst the present usurpers are invalid, identifying the real King to return is not that simple.
