Page "Alfonso XIII of Spain" Paragraph 6

During the First World War, because of his family connections with both sides and the division of popular opinion, Spain remained neutral.

The King ran an office for captives from the Royal Palace, which leveraged the Spanish diplomatic and military network abroad to intercede for thousands of prisoners-of-war, receiving and answering letters from Europe.

However, he became gravely ill during the 1918 flu pandemic and, since Spain was neutral and thus under no wartime censorship restrictions, his illness and subsequent recovery were covered worldwide, giving the false impression ( in the absence of real news from anywhere else ) that Spain was the most-affected area.

This ultimately led to the pandemic getting the nickname " the Spanish Flu.