The Duke of Fernández-Miranda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of theCortes Españolas | |
| In office 6 December 1975 – 30 June 1977 | |
| Head of State | Francisco Franco Juan Carlos I |
| Preceded by | Alejandro Rodríguez de Valcárcel |
| Succeeded by | Fernando Álvarez de Miranda (asPresident of the Congress of Deputies) |
| Prime Minister of Spain | |
Acting | |
| In office 20 December 1973 – 31 December 1973 | |
| Head of State | Francisco Franco |
| Preceded by | Luis Carrero Blanco |
| Succeeded by | Carlos Arias Navarro |
| First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain | |
| In office 12 June 1973 – 4 January 1974 | |
| Prime Minister | Luis Carrero Blanco |
| Preceded by | Luis Carrero Blanco |
| Succeeded by | José García Hernández |
| Minister-Secretary General of theMovimiento Nacional | |
| In office 30 October 1969 – 4 January 1974 | |
| Prime Minister | Francisco Franco Luis Carrero Blanco Carlos Arias Navarro |
| Preceded by | José Solís Ruiz |
| Succeeded by | José Utrera Molina |
| Member of theSenate | |
| In office 13 July 1977 – 2 January 1979 | |
| Appointed by | Juan Carlos I |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Torcuato Fernández-Miranda y Hevia (1915-11-10)10 November 1915 |
| Died | 19 June 1980(1980-06-19) (aged 64) |
| Political party | FET y de las JONS (1939–1977) Union of the Democratic Centre (1977–1978) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Colegio de la Inmaculada |
| Alma mater | University of Oviedo |
Torcuato Fernández-Miranda y Hevia, 1st Duke of Fernández-Miranda (10 November 1915 – 19 June 1980) was a Spanishlawyer andpolitician who played important roles in both theSpanish State ofFrancisco Franco and in theSpanish transition to democracy.
Fernández Miranda was born inGijón,Asturias, onSpain's north coast, in 1915. He died of a heart attack in 1980 while traveling toLondon.
By the age of 30, Fernández Miranda had already served as alieutenant for the Nationalists in theSpanish Civil War and begun a promising career as alaw professor; that year, he earned a chair at theUniversity of Oviedo, of which he would later serve asrector, 1951 to 1953.[1] He was destined to make his biggest impact in public service, however.
Franco chose him to serve as the government's Director-General of University Education in the mid-1950s, and gave him an even weightier assignment in 1960: Fernández Miranda was entrusted with the political education ofPrince Juan Carlos, whom Franco had tapped to carry on as his successor as theKing of Spain, after the death of thecaudillo. After having endured years of military training, Juan Carlos credited Fernández Miranda with being the first of his tutors to teach him to rely on independent thinking.[1]
In the final years of theFrancoist State – Franco would die 20 November 1975 – Fernández Miranda also played an important political role as a high-ranking member of theMovimiento Nacional (National Movement), the Francoist State's only legal political party. He served as interimPresidente del Gobierno (prime minister) for a few weeks in December 1973, after the assassination ofLuis Carrero Blanco. He had been Carrero Blanco's principal deputy prime minister. Although Fernández Miranda was one of the top candidates to succeed Carrero Blanco, the job of prime minister—Franco's last, as it would turn out—went toCarlos Arias Navarro.
Shortly after Franco's death, Juan Carlos became king. He retained Arias Navarro as prime minister but, in a nod to his political mentor, named Fernández Miranda speaker of theCortes (the legislature) and president of theConsejo del Reino (Council of the Kingdom) in the transition government. In these roles, Fernández Miranda was able to push a willing king toward the development of a democracy.
Fernández Miranda sought to establish a two-party system, with one conservative party and one liberal party. He suggested legitimizing the suppressed PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), which was leftist but anti-communist, for the liberal role.
Upon Arias Navarro's resignation in 1976, Spain was still operating under Francoist law; it was Fernández Miranda's job, as head of the Council of the Kingdom, to suggest three names to the king for a new political leader. He placed the reformistAdolfo Suárez on his list, despite Suárez' relative inexperience. Suárez was duly selected, and soon called for a political reform law, to be followed by democratic elections, Spain's first in 40 years.
The law professor Fernández Miranda, still serving as speaker of theCortes, was the principal author of Suárez'Ley para la Reforma Política (Political Reform Act), approved by the Government in September 1976, by theCortes in November 1976, and by a popular referendum 15 December 1976.
Although he played a large role in the transition to democracy, Fernández Miranda remained a political conservative. Following Suárez reforms with which he disagreed—such as the legalization of theCommunist Party of Spain and increasing tolerance ofdecentralization – the speaker resigned from theCortes prior to the first election, 15 June 1977.
After the election, he was named by the king to theSpanish Senate, which now became the upper house of abicameralCortes. He served there for one term, representing theUCD, until 2 January 1979.[2] He was later created 1stDuke of Fernández-Miranda andGrandee of Spain on 31 May 1977. In 1977 or 1981[3] he also became 1,181st Knight of theOrder of the Golden Fleece.
He married inGijón on 24 April 1946 María del Carmen Lozana Abeo and had children:[4]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | InterimPrime Minister of Spain 1973 | Succeeded by |
| Spanish nobility | ||
| New title | Duke of Fernández-Miranda 31 May 1977 – 19 June 1980 | Succeeded by Enrique Fernández-Miranda |
