Madrid, February 23, 1981: In the early evening, Sabino Fernández Campo, General Secretary of the Spanish royal family, stormed into the study of Juan Carlos I in the Zarzuela Palace and excitedly reported that the Civil Guard and members of the army, who were mourning the Franco dictatorship, had arrived Heavily armed, he stormed parliament and shots had already been fired. The monarch did not hesitate for long, and to curb the unrest across the country, a television speech was broadcast shortly afterwards, in which Juan Carlos – in the uniform of the commander-in-chief of the Spanish armed forces – sharply condemned the attempted coup and sided with democracy.
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