The Royal Palace that we can see from our El Anciano Rey de los Vinos was built on the ashes of the old Royal Alcázar. The construction lasted 26 years but, finally, could be inhabited. In fact, it was not quite finished, but enough to sleep there. The only matter was to  decide who was going be the first person in sleep there. Carlos III, son of the promoter of the project, King Felipe V, was the fortunate one.

Althought Carlos III was a very cultured person, we are sure it wasn’t a pleasure to spend the first night there. There were many stories that haunted those walls. From the laments of the old Muslim defenders of that enclave that sought to avenge the bad arts used to defeat them, or the malign influence of the architect Filippo de Juvara, who is said to have been executed by order of the King so that he couldn’t build a similar palace. That is why, during the construction, Juvara’s spirit sent all kinds of creatures from the hell to bother and even kill several workers.

One of the workers declared that a ghost had pushed a worker downstairs causing him to die. Even King Felipe V ordered an exorcism in order to stop such an abnormal activity that took place there.

But King Carlos III showed up, ready to inaugurate the new royal residence without there being a ghost, witch or goblin able to stop him

We do not know what happened that night, but we can assume that I would not sleep much. Carlos III never commented anything on the matter. Perhaps, instead of sleeping the King opted to visit one of the many taverns that, as El Anciano Rey, were around.

But what is known is that Carlos III ordered the accelerate the construction so that it was finished as soon as possible. Indeed we don’t know why, but we can think that he did it because, with the Royal Palace completed, the evil entities would stop bothering the inhabitants of the Palace.