The monarch would play a key role in the turnosystem by appointing and dismissing governments, which would then organize elections to provide themselves with a parliamentary majority.[3] As a result, governments during this period were dependent on royal confidence, which was frequently secured or lost based on the leaders' ability to guarantee the internal unity and parliamentary cohesion of their parties.[4][5] In practice, the royal prerogative was not exercised freely by the monarch, but was carried out through the opening of a round of consultations—with the presidents of the chambers, the leaders of the main parties, the potential candidates and other notable figures—prior to government formation, or when prime ministers raised a matter of confidence to the monarch.[6]
Cabinet crisis
The signing of the Treaty between France and Spain regarding Morocco on 27 November 1912, its subsequent ratification in the Cortes, and the approval of the 1913 budget, meant that the purpose of the transitional government formed under the Count of Romanones following the assassination of José Canalejas was fulfilled, with the political situation requiring of a more stable government.[7]Conservative elements (under the cover of an intense propaganda campaign led by the conservative press, most notably the newspaper La Época) had persistently advocated for a change in government in favour of party leader Antonio Maura.[8] The internal unity of the Liberal Party—broken since the death of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta in 1903 and only temporarily secured by Canalejas's leadership—was perceived as key for maintaining Alfonso XIII's confidence and, with it, the government; once having secured the support of former leaders and prime ministers Segismundo Moret and Eugenio Montero Ríos, Romanones chose to raise a matter of confidence to the King:[9]
Spanish:"He dado cuenta al Rey de la situación política. Le hice saber que, aprobados los presupuestos y el Tratado con Francia, consideraba yo, como todo el mundo, que la Regia prerrogativa quedaba completamente libre. Por lo tanto, para que de hecho lo estuviera, ponía en sus manos, con la dimisión mía, la dimisión de todo el Gobierno." ["I have informed the King of the political situation. I let him know that, with the budget and the Treaty with France approved, I believed, like everyone else, that the royal prerogative was completely free. Therefore, to ensure that it was effectively free, I placed in his hands, with my resignation, the resignation of the entire Government."]
—The Count of Romanones during the resolution of the matter of confidence, inFernando Soldevilla, El Año Político 1912 (1913).[10]
Romanones was tasked by King Alfonso XIII with forming a cabinet of his own—based on the fact that the parliamentary majority of his party remained cohesive and that political debates that could lead to a change in policy had not arisen.—and formed a government comprising members of the Liberal Party and one military officer.[12] However, the resolution of the crisis without a proper round of consultations, as well as the King's decision to keep the Liberals in power, was met with outrage by the Conservatives; La Época protested in an editorial that "there were [consultations] in November, following the assassination of Mr. Canalejas, at a time when, pending the approval of the budget and the Treaty with France, the royal prerogative neither had the necessary freedom, nor was it possible for anyone in such circumstances to advise the Monarch on a change of policy, however justified it might be. There were consultations then, when they had almost no purpose, and there haven't been any now, when circumstances have changed".[13][14] Maura himself was personally disappointed with the outcome, with the political situation seeing the culmination of his break with the turno system.[15][16]
↑ Ferrera Cuesta, Carlos (2022). "Personajes: Segismundo Moret y Prendergast". Historia Hispánica (in Spanish). Royal Academy of History. Retrieved 18 August 2025.: "...according to the political practice of the Restoration, since voters did not determine majorities due to electoral manipulation, the requirement demanded of any leader to retain power was to guarantee the unity of the Party. [Spanish: ...según la práctica política de la Restauración, dado que los votantes no determinaban las mayorías a causa de la manipulación electoral, el requisito exigido a cualquier líder para conservar el poder pasaba por garantizar la unidad del Partido.]"
↑ Cuenca Toribio, José Manuel (2022). "Personajes: Antonio Maura y Montaner". Historia Hispánica (in Spanish). Royal Academy of History. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
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