While I can somewhat provide information from the years 1936-1939, I cannot answer over the course of Franco’s lifetime.

Francisco Franco’s rise to power occurred during the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1939. The last King of Spain, Alfonso XIII had abdicated in 1931 in the face of widespread dissent and dissatisfaction and would spend the war in exile in France. Shortly thereafter, the Second Republic of Spain was declared. In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began with the uprising of much of the military of Spain, supported by the rightist coalition that would soon become the Nationalists. Within this rightist coalition, known as the National Front, three groups of political interests were allied. The Alfonsist Monarchists supported the reestablishment of a monarchy in Spain and the return of Alfonso XII. The Carlists supported an ultra-Catholic monarchy headed by the rival claimant Don Carlos. The third member of the Nationalist movement, the Spanish Falange, was a fascist movement that favored a dictator in place of a monarch. During the course of the war, Franco would make use of these movements to build his own base of power, however he never legitimately attempted to reestablish Monarchy in Spain in his rise to power.

Historian Anthony Beevor states that Alfonso XIII did in fact support the Nationalists monetarily. “Ex-King Alfonso’s immense generosity to the nationalist movement, giving $10 million, was only possible as a result of the vast fortune he had reputedly managed to transfer abroad” Beevor 138).

Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print.