The king, who staged a lightening visit to western Afghanistan on the last day of 2007 to visit Spanish troops serving with Nato-led forces in the war-ravaged country, has the highest approval rating of any public figure, according to a Metroscopia poll carried out in October.

The survey found that 69 per cent of Spaniards feel a parliamentary monarchy is the best political system for Spain while 80 per cent believe the country's transition to democracy would not have been possible without him.

Greatest of all time
In May he was voted the greatest Spaniard of all time in a television poll, beating explorer Christopher Columbus, painter Pablo Picasso and author Miguel Cervantes.

'Juan Carlos' great political moment came when he decided to relinquish almost all of his power to pave the way to democratic monarchy,' constitutional law professor Jose Pena of Universidad de San Pablo-Ceu told reporters.

The king, who was born in Rome and spent much of his early life in exile, was groomed by right-wing dictator General Francisco Franco as his successor.

But in his first speech as head of state, delivered shortly after he was proclaimed king following Gen Franco's death in 1975, Juan Carlos said the goal of his reign would be to re-establish democracy.

Spaniards approved a new constitution that established a parliamentary monarchy that gave the king a largely figurehead position as head of state in a national referendum in 1978.

The king's reputation as the father of Spain's modern democracy was reinforced in 1981 after he went on television to denounce an attempted military coup and urge Spaniards to support the elected government.

He was involved in a diplomatic incident with Venezuela in November that made international headlines after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called former Spanish premier Jose Maria Aznar a 'fascist' at a summit in Chile.

Straight talk
'Why don't you shut up,' he snapped at Mr Chavez, a phrase which Time magazine in December included on its list of 'The Ten Best Quotes' of 2007.

The incident boosted his popularity in Spain however 2007 was full of stressful events for the king, prompting the media to call it his own 'annus horribilis', repeating a term used by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 when the marriages of her three children collapsed.

The king's eldest daughter, Princess Elena, separated from her husband Jaime in 2007 while a satirical magazine published a sexually explicit caricature on its cover depicting the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Felipe.

Catalonian supporters
Meanwhile in Catalonia supporters of independence for the rich north-eastern region who see the king as a symbol of a centralised Spain burned photos of the monarch at several small rallies that got widespread media attention.

The king also faced criticism from unexpected sources.

In September outspoken conservative radio commentator Federico Jimenez Losantos broke a longstanding taboo and called on the king to abdicate in favour of his son, who will turn 40 on January 30, to allow the regeneration of the monarchy.

'Criticism of the king has come mostly from the right, probably because Juan Carlos did not fulfill their expectations that he would intervene actively in politics in their favour,' Fermin Bouza, a specialist in public opinion at the Complutense University in Madrid, told reporters.

The king does not appear to be in a hurry to give up the throne, he added.

'I see him very active, he does not look like he wants to abdicate. I don't think it is in his plans,' he said. -- AFP