A son for the Prince of Asturias

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 January 5, 1938

Doña Maria de la Mercedes, the Princess of Asturias, gave birth to a son today at the Anglo-American Hospital in Rome, reports the Associated Press.   The infant is second in line to the "non-existent throne of Spain."   The baby's father,  Don Juan, the Prince of Asturias,  and grandfather, King Alfonso XIII, were at the hospital when the child was born.

Mother and son are said to be "doing well."  Although the baby's name was not announced, he will have the title Infant of Spain.

Don Juan is the third son of King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie.  He has two elder brothers, Alfonso and Jaime, both of whom renounced their rights of succession in 1933. Don Alfonso,  now the Count of Covadonga, married a commoner and Don Jaime, the Duke of Segovia,  who is deaf and mute, renounced his rights due to his handicap.   The renunciation applies to the two men's descendants as well.

In October 1935 Don Juan married Princess Maria de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies.   They have one daughter, Infanta Doña Pilar, who was born on July 30, 1936.