Calvo-Sotelo was born into a prominent political family in
Madrid on 14 April 1926 with his father, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, and his mother, Mercedes Bustelo Márquez. The assassination of his uncle,
José Calvo Sotelo, who had been
finance minister under
Miguel Primo de Rivera, was a key event leading up to the
Spanish Civil War. Calvo-Sotelo graduated as a civil engineer from the School of Civil Engineers of Madrid now part of the
Technical University of Madrid, working in the area of applications of
chemistry to the industry. He was the president of
Renfe (the Spanish national railroad network) between 1967 and 1968. Calvo-Sotelo was elected solicitor (Deputy) of Franco's Cortes, representing industrialists in the Union of Chemical Industries, in 1971. A monarchist, Sotelo was one of the founders of an association of politicians, mostly of
Rightists and
Center Rightists, which disguised as the Fedisa publishing firm helped Spain's peaceful transition into democracy. ==Political career==