The remarkable legacy of Spain's King Juan Carlos

Beset by mishaps while on hunting trips and rumours of extramarital flings, the latter years of King Juan Carlos I of Spain resemble that of many of Europe's royals in the tabloid age. But beyond the occasional headlines in Spain's prensa rosa – or red-top newspapers – he will be remembered for skilfully transiting his land from backward military dictatorship to modern European state.

With Spain bitterly divided in the post-war years between Republicans and Fascists, the young monarch faced hostile generals on the Right and contemptuous Communists on the Left, and was widely expected to end up as "Juan Carlos the Brief". Instead, as his 38 years on the throne was to prove, he played a key role in smoothing Spain's path to democracy, deftly courting allies on both sides and almost single-handedly thwarting a military coup in 1981.

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