Infante Of Spain Gonzalo

Diagnoses

Personal

Vocation

Notable

Family

Infante of Spain as the fourth surviving son and youngest child of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and his wife Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. Because he inherited hemophilia from his mother's family (a fact not widely known in Spain during his life), he suffered some ill health, although he was an active sportsman. He held the rank of a private in the Engineering Corps of the Spanish Army. On 14 April 1931 Gonzalo accompanied his mother into exile. He studied Engineering at the Catholic University of Leuven, instead of at the University of Madrid as originally planned for him. In August 1934 Gonzalo was spending the summer holidays with his family at the villa of Count Ladislaus Hoyos at Pörtschach am Wörthersee in Austria. On the evening of 11 August, Gonzalo and his sister Infanta Beatriz were driving from Klagenfurt to Pörtschach. Near Krumpendorf, Beatriz, who was driving, was forced to swerve to avoid a cyclist. The car crashed into a wall. Neither Gonzalo nor Beatriz appeared badly hurt, and so they returned to their villa. Several hours later it became clear that Gonzalo had severe abdominal bleeding. Because he had a weak heart, an operation was ruled out. He died two days later on 13 August 1934, aged 19. Link to Wikipedia biography