Editing Valley of the Fallen (section)

== Franco's tomb (1975–2019) ==
[[File:ValleDeLosCaidos Virgen de Loreto.jpg|thumb|right|190px|Virgen de Loreto]]
[[File:ValleDeLosCaidos Tomb Franco.jpg|thumb|right|Franco's tomb (1975–2019)]]
{{Francoism sidebar}}
After the dictator's death, the interim Government led by Prince [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|Juan Carlos]] and Prime Minister [[Carlos Arias Navarro]] designated the site in 1975 as his burial place. Franco's family, when asked if they had any opinion on where he should be buried, said they had none. According to a friend and colleague of Arias, the decision to bury Franco in the Valley was not made by Franco or his family, but probably by the king.<ref name=fraguas>{{cite news| last=Fraguas | first=Rafael | title=Una sepultura para Franco en Mingorrubio| language=es|trans-title=A tomb for Franco in Mingorrubio | newspaper=El País | date=16 October 2010 | url=https://elpais.com/diario/2010/10/16/espana/1287180012_850215.html }}</ref> The family agreed to the interim Government's request to bury him in the Valley, and has stood by the decision.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

Before his death, nobody had expected that Franco would be buried in the Valley. Moreover, the grave had to be excavated and prepared within two days, forcing last minute changes in the plumbing system of the Basilica. Unlike the fallen of the Civil War who were laid to rest in tombs behind the chapels on the sides of the basilica, Franco was buried behind the main altar, in the central nave. His grave is marked by a tombstone engraved with just his given name and first surname, on the choir side of the main [[high altar]] (between the altar and the apse of the Church; behind the altar, from the perspective of a person standing at the main door).{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} Franco is the only person interred in the Valley who did not die in the Civil War. The argument given by the defenders of his tomb is that in the Catholic Church the developer of a church can be buried in the church that he has promoted, therefore Franco would be in the Valley as the promoter of the basilica's construction.<ref name="fraguas" />

Franco was the second person interred in the Santa Cruz basilica. Franco had earlier interred [[José Antonio Primo de Rivera]], the founder of the [[Falange Española de las JONS|Falange movement]], who was executed by the Republican government in 1936 and was buried by the Francoist government under a modest gravestone on the nave side of the altar. Primo de Rivera died on 20 November 1936, exactly 39 years before Franco. His grave is in the corresponding position on the other side of the altar. Accordingly, 20 November is annually commemorated by large crowds of Franco supporters and various Falange successor movements and individuals, flocking to the [[Requiem Masses]] held for the repose of the souls of their political leaders.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

===Exhumation and removal of Franco's remains===
{{Main|Exhumation and reburial of Francisco Franco}}

On 29 November 2011 the Expert Commission for the Future of the Valley of the Fallen, formed by the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSOE) government of [[José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero]] on 27 May 2011 under the [[Historical Memory Law]] and charged to give advice for converting the Valley to a "memory centre that dignifies and rehabilitates the victims of the Civil War and the subsequent Franco regime,"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.memoriahistorica.gob.es/ValleCaidos/enlaces/ComisionExpertosVCaidos.htm |title=Expert Commission on the Future of the Valley of the Fallen |publisher=Memoria Histórica |language=es |access-date=29 July 2014 |archive-date=2 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102194115/http://www.memoriahistorica.gob.es/ValleCaidos/enlaces/ComisionExpertosVCaidos.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> rendered a report<ref>{{cite web|title=Expert Commission on the Future of the Valley of the Fallen|url=http://www.memoriahistorica.gob.es/NR/rdonlyres/0F532FC5-FE23-4B8D-AA3A-06ED4BFAFC49/184261/InformeComisinExpertosValleCados.pdf|publisher=Ministro de la Presidencia|language=es|date=29 November 2011|access-date=29 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130704015837/http://www.memoriahistorica.gob.es/NR/rdonlyres/0F532FC5-FE23-4B8D-AA3A-06ED4BFAFC49/184261/InformeComisinExpertosValleCados.pdf|archive-date=4 July 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> recommending as its principal proposal for the commission's stated end the removal of the remains of Franco from the Valley for reburial at a location to be chosen by his family, but only after first obtaining a broad parliamentary consensus for such action. The Commission based its decision upon Franco having not died in the Civil War and the aim of the Commission that the Valley be exclusively for those on both sides who had died in the Civil War. In regard to [[José Antonio Primo de Rivera|Primo de Rivera]] the Commission recommended, since he was a victim of the Civil War, his remains should stay at the Valley but relocated within the Basilica mausoleum on equal footing with those remains of others who died in the conflict. The Commission further conditioned its recommendation for the removal of the remains of Franco from the Valley and the relocation of the remains of Primo de Rivera within the Basilica mausoleum upon the consent of the Catholic Church since "any action inside of the Basilica requires the permission of the Church." Three members of the twelve person commission gave a joint dissenting opinion opposing the recommendation for the removal of the remains of Franco from the Valley claiming such action would only further "divide and stress Spanish society."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/11/29/espana/1322570573.html |title=The Valley of the Fallen Commission proposes that Franco's remains are moved |publisher=El Mundo |language=es|date=29 November 2011 |access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref> The Commission additionally proposed for its report creating a "meditation centre" in the Valley for those not of the Catholic faith, the names shown on the esplanade that leads into the Basilica mausoleum of all Civil War victims buried at the Valley who can be identified and an "interpretive centre" be built to explain how and why the Valley exists. The total cost of the proposed changes to the Valley was estimated by the Commission at €13 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.es/20111129/espana/abci-comision-franco-201111291340.html |title=The Valley of the Fallen Commission recommends that Franco's remains are moved |publisher=ABC |language=es|date=30 November 2011 |access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref> On 20 November, nine days before the issuance of the report of the commission and ironically on the 36th anniversary of the death of Franco, the conservative [[People's Party (Spain)|Popular Party]] (PP) won for the [[Spanish general election, 2011|2011 General Election]] absolute majorities in both Spain's lower house, the Congress of Deputies and Senate.<ref>{{cite news|title=Spanish General Election Results|url=http://news-spain.euroresidentes.com/2011/11/spanish-general-election-results.html|publisher=News from Spain|date=21 November 2011|access-date=29 July 2014}}</ref>

On 15 March 2019, the government of Pedro Sanchez announced that Franco would be exhumed and reburied at [[Mingorrubio Cemetery]] in [[El Pardo]] with his wife [[Carmen Polo, 1st Lady of Meirás|Carmen Polo]], and that the exhumation would take place on 10 June 2019, assuming the Supreme Court did not issue a precautionary order preventing the exhumation until a decision for those appeals of the Franco family and Benedictine Community presently before it.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://elpais.com/politica/2019/03/15/actualidad/1552649512_701250.html|title=El Gobierno aprueba la exhumación de Franco el 10 de junio y su traslado al cementerio de El Pardo|first=Carlos E.|last=Cué|newspaper=El País|date=15 March 2019|via=elpais.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://elpais.com/politica/2019/06/03/actualidad/1559578563_330390.html |title=El Supremo paraliza la exhumación de Franco |date=4 June 2019 |newspaper=[[elpais.com]] |language=es |access-date=15 March 2019 |first=Natalia |last=Junquera |publisher=[[Prisa]] |location=Madrid}}</ref> On 19 March 2019, the Francisco Franco National Foundation filed an appeal with the Supreme Court contending the February agreement of the Council of Ministers for the exhumation is "null and void" for violating "openly" not only the Constitution, but as well the royal decree that modifies the law of Historical Memory and "all the regulations that make up the legal regime" of the B, in addition to European laws and regulations. The Franco Foundation further prayed the Supreme Court stay any action to remove the remains of Franco during the pendency of its appeal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gaceta.es/espana/la-fundacion-francisco-franco-pide-al-supremo-la-suspension-de-la-exhumacion-20190320-1554/|title=La Fundación Francisco Franco pide al Supremo la suspensión de la exhumación|date=20 March 2019}}</ref> On 4 June 2019 the five magistrates of the Fourth Administrative Contentious Division of the Supreme Court unanimously suspended the exhumation pending a final decision for those appeals in opposition to the exhumation filed by the Franco Family, the Benedictine Community, the Franco Foundation and the Association for the Defense of the Valley of the Fallen.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-06-04|title=El Supremo suspende por unanimidad la exhumación de Franco|url=https://www.abc.es/espana/abci-supremo-suspende-unanimidad-exhumacion-franco-201906041208_noticia.html|access-date=2021-02-25|website=ABC|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-06-03|title=El Tribunal Supremo suspende la exhumación de los restos de Franco|url=https://www.elmundo.es/espana/2019/06/03/5cf546a0fdddff1c748b473a.html|access-date=2021-02-25|website=ELMUNDO|language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2019-06-04|title=El Supremo paraliza la exhumación de Franco del Valle de los Caídos|url=https://www.larazon.es/espana/el-supremo-paraliza-la-exhumacion-de-franco-LC23658223/|access-date=2021-02-25|website=La Razón|language=es}}</ref>

On 24 September 2019 the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favour of exhumation and rejected the arguments put forward by Franco's family. It was reported that the exhumation could take place before 10 November 2019 Spanish election and would inter Franco's remains in the El Pardo Cemetery.<ref>{{cite news|title=Franco exhumation: Spain's Supreme Court backs move to cemetery|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49807372|date=24 September 2019|access-date=24 September 2019}}</ref> On 24 October 2019, in the presence of Franco's relatives and [[Dolores Delgado]], Spain's Minister of Justice, the coffin containing Franco's remains was exhumed from the basilica in the Valley of the Fallen. The coffin was carried out into the plaza by members of the dictator's family, who exclaimed: ′''¡Viva España! ¡Viva Franco!''′ (′Long live Spain! Long live Franco!′) as they lowered it into a hearse. It was then secured in a waiting helicopter, which transported it to the Mingorrubio-El Pardo municipal cemetery, where Franco was reburied alongside his wife, [[Carmen Polo]]. The Franco family chose Ramón Tejero, an Andalucían parish priest, and son of the Guardia Civil lieutenant colonel [[Antonio Tejero]], who violently stormed the Spanish Parliament during the unsuccessful [[1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt|military coup]] on 23 February 1981, to say mass at the reinterment ceremony.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jones|first=Sam|date=24 October 2019|title='Spain is fulfilling its duty to itself': Franco's remains exhumed|language=en|newspaper=The Guardian|publisher=[[Guardian News & Media Limited]]|location=Madrid|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/24/franco-exhumation-spain-dictator-madrid|access-date=24 October 2019}}</ref>