Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo (; 14 April 1926 – 3 May 2008), usually known as Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, was

Prime Minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government ( es, link=no, Presidente del Gobierno), is the head of government of Spain. The office was established in its current form by the Constitution of 1978 and it was first regula ...

between 1981 and 1982.

Early life and career

Calvo-Sotelo was born into a prominent political family in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

on 14 April 1926 with his father, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, and his mother, Mercedes Bustelo Márquez. The assassination of his uncle,

José Calvo Sotelo José Calvo Sotelo, 1st Duke of Calvo Sotelo, GE (6 May 1893 – 13 July 1936) was a Spanish jurist and politician, minister of Finance during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and a leading figure during the Second Republic. During t ...

, who had been

finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

under

Miguel Primo de Rivera Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deepl ...

, was a key event leading up to the Spanish Civil War. Calvo-Sotelo graduated as a civil engineer from the School of Civil Engineers of Madrid now part of the

Technical University of Madrid The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Te ...

, working in the area of applications of

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

to the industry. He was the president of Renfe (the Spanish national railroad network) between 1967 and 1968. Calvo-Sotelo was elected solicitor (Deputy) of Franco's Cortes, representing industrialists in the Union of Chemical Industries, in 1971. A monarchist, Sotelo was one of the founders of an association of politicians, mostly of

Right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

ists and

Center Right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and me ...

ists, which disguised as the Fedisa publishing firm helped Spain's peaceful transition into democracy.

Political career

Calvo-Sotelo was designated Minister of Commerce by

Carlos Arias Navarro Carlos Arias Navarro, 1st Marquis of Arias-Navarro (11 December 1908 – 27 November 1989) was one of the best-known Spanish politicians during the Francoist regime. Arias Navarro was a moderate leader in the last phase of Francoism and the be ...

to be in the first government of the Monarchy (December 1975 – July 1976). He advocated a true transition to democracy instead of mere superficial changes that politicians like Navarro planned. Calvo-Sotelo was kept in the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister since the Second Spanish Republic and a key figure in th ...

upon his succession to premiership in 1976 and directed several centre-right and centre-left political associations into one party, the Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD). Calvo-Sotelo was part of the Tacito group in the cabinet along with

Eduardo Carriles Eduardo Carriles (1923–2020) was a Spanish lawyer, businessman and politician who served as the minister of finance between 1976 and 1977. Biography Carriles was born in Santander on 28 November 1923. He was a lawyer by profession. He served a ...

Andrés Reguera Andrés Reguera (16 November 1930 – 6 June 2000) was a Spanish jurist, businessman and politician who served at the Spanish Parliament. He was the minister of information and tourism between 7 July 1976 and 4 July 1977. Early life and educati ...

Landelino Lavilla Landelino Lavilla Alsina (6 August 1934 – 13 April 2020) was a Spanish lawyer and politician who served as the minister of justice from 1976 to 1979. He also served as member of parliament and as senator. His most important role was as Pr ...

Enrique de la Mata Enrique de la Mata (September 20, 1933 – September 6, 1987) was a Spanish parliamentarian, lawyer and minister. He was the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from 1981 to 1987. After the end of ...

, Marcelino Oreja and

Alfonso Osorio Alfonso Osorio García (13 December 1923 – 27 August 2018) was a Spanish politician. Born in Santander on 13 December 1923, Osorio studied law at the University of Oviedo. He joined the State Lawyers Corps in 1953, serving in Cuenca and Toledo. ...

. The UCD won in both the June 1977 and the March 1979 elections and Calvo-Sotelo was elected MP for

President of the Government of Spain

Suárez decided to keep him in the Cabinet, first from 1978 to 1980 as Minister for Relations of the European Economic Community, then as Second Vicepresident in charge of economic affairs. After the resignation of Suárez on 29 January 1981, he was supposed to be appointed Prime Minister () on 23 February, and advocated Spain's proposed entry into

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

as soon as possible. However, on that date a session of the Congress of Deputies was interrupted by the attempted coup of 23-F. After the failed coup, his appointment as Prime Minister was confirmed on 25 February by the vote of all the UCD members of the congress and 21 others as well, giving him a majority of 186 to 158. Splits in the UCD group led to the formation of three rival parties, the Democratic Action Party (Partido de Acción Democrática/PAD), which soon merged with the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE), the Democratic and Social Centre (CDS) and Democratic Popular Party (PDP), resulting in the UCD being unable to count on sufficient support in the legislature. Fresh elections were called, resulting in a heavy defeat for the UCD, which won only 12 seats at the 1982 election compared to 168 in 1979. He served as Prime Minister until 1 December 1982 and was succeeded by the socialist

Felipe González Felipe González Márquez (; born 5 March 1942) is a Spanish lawyer, professor, and politician, who was the Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) from 1974 to 1997, and the 3rd Prime Minister of Spain since the ...

Later years

In 2002, Calvo-Sotelo was raised into the

Spanish nobility Spanish nobles are persons who possess the legal status of hereditary nobility according to the laws and traditions of the Spanish monarchy and historically also those who held personal nobility as bestowed by one of the three highest orders of ...

King Juan Carlos of Spain Juan Carlos I (;, * ca, Joan Carles I, * gl, Xoán Carlos I, Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 Novem ...

and given the hereditary title of '' Marqués de la Ría de Ribadeo'' (''Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo''), together with the dignity '' Grande de España'' (English: Grandee of Spain), this in honour for his service. Calvo-Sotelo was also a member of the

Club of Madrid Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization created to promote democracy and change in the international community. Composed of 121 regular members from 72 countries, including 7 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and 20 first female heads ...

and of the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering. He died of

natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...

at his home in

Pozuelo de Alarcón Pozuelo de Alarcón () is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Bordering the Moncloa-Aravaca district of Madrid proper to its west, Pozuelo de Alarcón is surrounded by large Mediterranean pine-tree forests: the Casa de Campo, the ...

, on 3 May 2008 aged 82.

Personal life

He was married to María del Pilar Ibáñez-Martín y Mellado and had eight children: * Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b.

, 4 September 1957), 2nd Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo, married to Cristina Egea y Gutiérrez-Cortines. * Juan Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b.

, 14 November 1958), married to Lucía Fernández y Cartuxo * María del Pilar Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b.

, 20 October 1959), married to Carlos Delclaux y Zulueta * Pedro Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b.

, 20 December 1960), married to María Alvarez-Cascos y Gómez de Arteche * Víctor Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b.

, 24 November 1961), unmarried and without issue * José María Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b.

, 2 May 1964), unmarried and without issue * Andrés Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b.

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, 14 August 1965), twin with the below, unmarried and without issue * Pablo Calvo-Sotelo e Ibáñez-Martín (b.

, 14 August 1965), twin with the above, married to Elvira García-Bellido y Capdevilla

General references

*Mclean, Renwick (2006). "Spain Takes a Proud Look Back." ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

''. 24 February. *Preston, Paul (1990). ''The Triumph of Democracy in Spain''. London: Routledge. *Rogers, Eamonn and Valerie Rogers, eds. (1999). ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture''. London: Routledge. *Walker, Jane (2006). "The Day Freedom Was Put in Peril." ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''. 23 February.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvo Sotelo, Leopoldo 1926 births 2008 deaths Spanish monarchists Deputy Prime Ministers of Spain Economy and finance ministers of Spain Grandees of Spain Marquesses of Spain Members of the Cortes Españolas Members of the constituent Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 1st Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 2nd Congress of Deputies (Spain) MEPs for Spain 1986–1987 Politicians from Madrid Polytechnic University of Madrid alumni Prime Ministers of Spain Spanish Roman Catholics Union of the Democratic Centre (Spain) politicians