Adolfo Suárez

He became the Minister Secretary General of the National Movement (Movimiento Nacional), that acted as the single party, for 18 years and following the death of Franco in late 1975. For this reason, centrists and leftists opposed his appointment as the 138th Prime Minister of Spain or President of the Government by King Juan Carlos on 4 July 1976. Suárez, as a nationalist, was chosen by the monarch to lead the country towards a democratic, parliamentary monarchy without annoying the powerful conservative factions (especially the military) in the country. Surprising many observers and political opponents, Suárez introduced Political Reform in 1976 as a first, decisive step in the Transition (La Transición) to democracy.

In 1977, he led the Democratic Center Union (Unión de Centro Democrático, UCD) to victory in Spain's first free elections in 41 years, and became the first democratically elected prime minister after the Franco regime.

His centrist government instituted democratic reforms, and his coalition won again the 1979 elections under the new constitution. Less successful as a day-to-day organizer than as a crisis manager, he resigned as premier on 25 January 1981.² In 1982 he founded Democratic and Social Center (Centro Democrático y Social, CDS) party, which never achieved the success of UCD. He retired from active politics in 1991, for political party and family reasons.

Suárez was awarded the Príncipe de Asturias a la Concordia award in September 1996, in recognition of his important personal contribution to Spanish democracy. The King of Spain made him Duke of Suárez in 1981. On 8 June 2007 on the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the first democratic elections, King Juan Carlos I named Suárez as the 1,193rd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece for his important role during the Spanish transition to democracy.³

Family

Both his wife, María del Amparo Illana y Elórtegui, and elder daughter, Doña María del Amparo (Marián) Suárez y Illana, suffered and died from cancer (in 2001 and on 7 March 2004, respectively). She was born in 1962 and was married in 1998 to Fernando Romero y ..., by whom she left two children, Alejandra (b. 1990) and Fernando (b. 1993) Romero y Suárez.

Another daughter, Doña María Sonsoles Suárez y Illana, born in Madrid in 1967), became a TV news anchor for Antena 3 and married José María Martínez-Bordiú y Bassó de Roviralta, born in Madrid on 22 November 1962 and a nephew of Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, the son in law of Francisco Franco, without issue.

Son Don Adolfo Suárez y Illana, born in Madrid on 5 May 1964, was chosen by José María Aznar as the People's Party (PP) candidate for the post of president of the Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha, but lost against incumbent José Bono Martínez, of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE).^{citation needed} He is married on 18 July 1998 to Isabel Florez y Santos, born in 1972, and has two sons, Don Adolfo and Don Pablo Suárez y Florez.

Suárez had two more children, Doña Laura and Don Javier, both unmarried and without issue.

Illness

On 31 May 2005, his son, Don Adolfo Suárez y Illana, announced on Spanish television that his father was suffering from Alzheimer's disease (or a similar illness), which meant that he could no longer remember his period as prime minister of Spain. The announcement followed speculation about Suárez's health in the Spanish media.