Historians have traditionally studied Spain's transition to democracy (1975–8) through the point of view of its protagonists, especially King Juan Carlos I and Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez. The figure of Miguel Primo de Rivera y Urquijo (1934–2018), who despite being José Antonio's nephew and Franco's protégé defended the Political Reform Act which restored democracy, is one that however has barely received attention from historians. This is mainly due to the lack of sources on him, apart from his memoirs, published in 2002. The unprecedented access to his personal archive reveals that Primo de Rivera had a crucial role in the transition: although apparently an outright Francoist, he dedicated all of his efforts to accomplishing the succession of Juan Carlos and the eventual restoration of democracy. This paper rediscovers his figure, revealing him to be a convinced democrat and a crucial member of the strategy that brought down Francoism.

历史学家传统上通过其主角，特别是国王胡安·卡洛斯一世和首相阿道弗·苏亚雷斯的观点来研究西班牙的民主转型（1975-8）。米格尔·普里莫·德·里维拉·伊·乌尔基霍（Miguel Primo de Rivera y Urquijo，1934-2018）这一人物尽管是何塞·安东尼奥的侄子和佛朗哥的门生，却捍卫了恢复民主的《政治改革法案》，但却几乎没有受到历史学家的关注。这主要是因为除了 2002 年出版的回忆录外，缺乏有关他的资料。对他个人档案的前所未有的访问表明，普里莫·德·里维拉在这一转变中发挥了至关重要的作用：虽然表面上是一个彻头彻尾的佛朗哥主义者，但他奉献了一切他为实现胡安·卡洛斯的继任和最终恢复民主所做的努力。本文重新发现了他的形象，揭示了他是一位坚定的民主主义者，也是推翻佛朗哥主义战略的关键成员。