“The Monarchy will do, under the Principles of Democracy...”. The King of Spain’s first abroad Trip. Preparation, Development and Consequences for the Spanish Transition

Abstract

This article focuses on the first journey of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía to the United States, in 1976. Modern historiography considers this fact was crucial to get the support of the US Administration in the early days of the Spanish transition to the democracy. This work –which matches with the 40th. anniversary of this event- is based on Spanish and US primary sources. After the study of these sources, we can state this journey opened a new democratic era in the Spanish foreign policy.

Keywords

• Rey Juan Carlos
• transición española
• política exterior española.