Born in
Reus on 6 December 1814, Prim was the son of lieutenant colonel Pablo Prim. He entered the free corps known as the
tiradores de Isabel II and met his
baptism of fire on 7 August 1834, during the
First Carlist War, facing the Carlist party of Triaxet. Over the course of the war, he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and had two orders of
knighthood conferred upon him. After the pacification of 1839, as a progressist opposed to the dictatorship of
General Espartero, he was sent into exile. However, in 1843 he was elected deputy for
Tarragona, and after defeating Espartero at Bruch he entered Madrid in triumph with
General Serrano. The regent
Maria Christina promoted him major-general, and made him
conde de Reus (Count of
Reus) and
vizconde del Bruch (Viscount of
Bruch).
General Narváez, the prime minister, failed to understand what constitutional freedom meant, and General Prim, on showing signs of opposition, was sentenced to six years imprisonment in the
Philippine Islands. The sentence was not carried out, and Prim remained an exile in England and France until the
amnesty of 1847. He then returned to Spain, and was first employed as captain-general of
Puerto Rico (
Governor of Puerto Rico) and afterwards as military representative with the sultan during the
Crimean War. In 1854 he was elected to the Cortes, and gave his support to
General O'Donnell, who promoted him lieutenant-general in 1856. In the
war with Morocco he did such good service at
Castillejos (Fnideq), Cabo Negro, Guad al Gelu and Campamento in 1860 that he was made
marqués de los Castillejos (Marquess of los Castillejos) and
Grande de España (
Grandee of Spain). Prim commanded the Spanish expeditionary army in
Mexico in 1862, when Spain, Great Britain, and France sought forced payment from the liberal government of
Benito Juárez for loans. Prim was a sympathizer with the
Mexican liberal cause, thus he refused to consent to the ambitious schemes of French emperor
Napoleon III, and withdrew Spanish forces following a meeting with
Manuel Doblado. Prim was a staunch supporter of the Union in the
American Civil War and on his trip to the
United States, where he visited
New York and
Philadelphia, he met with
Lincoln in Washington. On Prim's return to Spain, he joined the opposition, heading
pronunciamentos in Catalonia against generals Narváez and O'Donnell. All his attempts failed until the death of Narváez in April 1868, after which Queen Isabella became increasingly tyrannical until at last even Serrano was exiled. In September 1868 General Serrano and General Prim returned, and
Brigadier Topete, commanding the fleet, raised the standard of
revolt at
Cádiz. In July 1869 General Serrano was elected regent, and Prim became president of the council and was made a marshal. On 6 November 1870 Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, was elected king of Spain, but General Prim, on leaving the chamber of the Cortes on 28 December, was shot by unknown assassins and died two days later. The Cortes took his children as wards of the country; three days afterwards King
Amadeo I swore in the presence of the corpse to observe the new Spanish constitution. This is due to the fact that Prim had searched all the European courts of the time trying to find a monarch who was not opposed to being democratically elected. He is quoted for saying that "looking for a democratic monarch in Europe is like trying to find an atheist in heaven". After France had rejected the almost-elected
Leopold of Hohenzollern because of their fear that
Prussia might thereby become more powerful, Amadeo of Savoy was the most fitting who consented. The workshop of metalworker
Plácido Zuloaga was commissioned to make a monumental
sarcophagus for Prim. Completed in 1875 in
Eibar, this now resides in the cemetery at
Reus. ==Gallery==