200 Euros - Juan Carlos I 25 years of the Constitution

Issued to mark twenty-five years since Spain's 1978 Constitution came into force — the document ratified by referendum on December 6th of that year, less than three years after Franco's death. The Constitution established Spain as a parliamentary monarchy and was the cornerstone of the Transición, the negotiated dismantling of Francoist institutions that brought the country into democratic Europe without the civil rupture many had feared.

Juan Carlos I's own role in that transition was decisive; his refusal to prop up the old regime surprised hardliners and earned him genuine political capital that lasted decades. The 23-F coup attempt of 1981 — when Civil Guard colonel Tejero seized the Cortes at gunpoint — was ultimately defeated in large part by the king's televised intervention ordering the military to stand down.