Fernand Sanz

Fernando " Fernand " Sanz y Martinez de Arizala ( born February 28, 1881 in Madrid, † January 8, 1925 in Pau) was a French racing cyclist and extramarital son of the Spanish King Alfonso XII.

Sports career

Fernand Sanz launched in 1900 at the Olympics in Paris and won the silver medal in the sprint. In the same year he won the prestigious Sprint Classic Grand Prix de Paris third place in 1902 and second place respectively in the amateurs. Also in 1900 he was second in the French championship in the sprint; In the same year he participated in the UCI Track World Championships in 1900, both also took place in Paris, but could not place itself.

In later years, Sanz tried as a boxer. Twice, in 1903 and 1904, he tried unsuccessfully to fight the French title.

Son of the king

Fernand Sanz was one of two illegitimate sons of the Spanish King Alfonso XII. His mother was the famous opera singer Elena Sanz, who was eight years older than the king. 1881 she went with her children to pressure from the queen to Paris. She received a monthly pension of 5,000 pesetas, which was set during the Spanish King 's death in 1885. The following year, she signed a silence agreement, with which they returned the most love letters of the king. In return, 31,000 francs were created for the children which should be grown in their majority to 700,000 francs. In fact, the bank paid the death of his mother in 1898 from nothing. 1907 strained Fernand's brother Alfonso to a process for recognition of paternity, which was dismissed by a Spanish judge, because the king is not subject to the common law. Fernand Sanz, who remained unmarried, was a great-uncle of the current King Juan Carlos I.