A Crown for Juan Carlos?

Will the Prince of Spain ever become King? Madrid last week was alive with speculation that Prince luan Carlos de Borbon y Borbon, 33, will be crowned in October. The move, which might be announced within the next couple of weeks, will be the most significant political development in Spain since the end of the Civil War in 1939.

Rumors began circulating several weeks ago, when Foreign Minister Gregorio Lopez Bravo arrived in San Sebastian, Spain's summer capital. Generalissimo Francisco Franco, Chief of State, was vacationing on his yacht at Vigo and had summoned Lopez Bravo to discuss a restoration of the monarchy after a lapse of 40 years. The step is part of Franco's deliberate attempt to relinquish gradually his absolute powers. In July 1969, as the first move in that direction, the Caudillo named Juan Carlos to be Prince of Spain. Next, Franco overhauled the Spanish Cabinet, substituting younger, more moderate personalities for the conservative ministers who in many cases were identified with the Spanish Civil War. Then, last June, it was announced that Juan Carlos would be acting Chief of State in the event of Franco's death, incapacitation or absence from the country. Coronation, the final step, will be accompanied by the designation of a Prime Minister, who will have the real power.

Twilight Zone. Franco apparently intends to preside over the coronation and then retire to private life. At 78, he is in full possession of his faculties, but he insists privately that he does not want to go out as did his neighbor in Portugal, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, who suffered a stroke and lived his last two years in a twilight zone of helpless incomprehension. More important, Franco, a lifelong monarchist, knows that in Spain there is no great affection for the crown. He also knows that many of his associates, including his probable choice for Prime Minister, Vice President Luis Carrero Blanco, would probably make no effort to restore the monarchy. If Franco does not put a king back upon the throne, no one else will.

Juan Carlos has insisted all along that he would prefer to see his father Don Juan crowned. Franco, however, would not accept Don Juan because of his liberal political and social views and his public attacks on the Franco regime. So Juan Carlos accepted the throne. "It is not a question of Don Juan or Juan Carlos," he told his father, "but whether the monarchy would ever be restored."

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