Carlos Seco Serrano, who holds a PhD in History and is professor emeritus of the Universidad Complutense, has been dean of the Real Academia de la Historia since 1977 and editor-in-chief of its Boletín. He is a full member of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres of Barcelona; a member emeritus of the Academia Portuguesa da História; a collaborator with the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; and former director of the Índice Histórico Español. He received the National History prize in 1986 for Militarismo y civilismo en la España contemporánea (1983) and the Villa de Madrid prize in 2003 for La España de Alfonso XIII. El Estado, la política, los movimientos sociales (2002). He has also been distinguished with the Order of the Academic Palms, the Grand Cross for Military Merit, and the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise.