[7] It was established in 1895 as a polo club by a group of prominent noblemen led by the 16th Duke of Alba, with avid support from the then young king of Spain, Alfonso XIII.

[8] In 1904, Harry Colt and Tom Simpson designed in the club what was to become mainland Spain's first golf course, "el de arriba" (the upper).

[9] In 1966, Robert Trent Jones Jr. and John Harris designed the second course, "el de abajo" (the lower), while Kyle Phillips was the architect of a third short nine-hole links.

[19][20] In 1876, a 19-year-old Alfonso XII ordered the construction of Madrid's first polo field at the Real Casa de Campo, at the time property of the crown.

The main hypothesis behind this impulse points at the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), who during a visit to Madrid in late April 1876 mentioned the game to the king for the first time.

[21] Another important factor in the popularisation of the game was the great amount of business that British entrepreneurs were involved with in Spain, mainly transportation, sherry and mining i.e. Río Tinto, Osborne Group or González Byass.

[25] Young Alfonso XII, who had studied at Sandhurst, commissioned his admired equestrian teacher colonel Hamley to issue him with the newly published rules of Hurlingham.

With the closure of the pitch at Casa de Campo as a result of the king's death, his close group of friends started playing polo in a large grassland in what is now Moratalaz in 1893.

Despite his young age, his delicate health had prompted his mother the Queen Regent to ensure he practised many outdoor sports, and so the king had become a prolific horseman.

Not much is known today about this primitive course, other than its deep bunkers and the ring-like greens baptised then as bullrings, a uniqueness that the "American Golfer" magazine portrayed in one of its issues in April 1914.

King Alfonso XIII offered some land in Monte del Pardo belonging to Heritage of the Crown for the symbolic price of 1,000 annual pesetas for a period of 20 years.

Back then, very few people had cars, the road to Puerta de Hierro was muddy and out of reach for those living in the city, which represented the great majority of members.

Allegedly, the king had to speak to several influential members so that they would convince the rest to move out to the new terrains, claiming "it is an act of patriotism, since Madrid needs a country club that the best of those existing abroad would not surpass at all".

In almost two years, the construction of an eighteen-hole golf course, el de arriba (the upper), as well as a full size polo pitch and several tennis courts were finalised.

The course was designed by Harry Colt taking advantage of the naturally occurring geographical accidents, featuring few bunkers and slightly shorter hole distances brought about by the firmness of the ground which maintained the ball rolling for longer.

Puerta de Hierro introduced a "pay for use" policy whereby members had an extra fee for each sport they desired to play; 180 pesetas for those wishing to use the golf and tennis facilities and 350 for polo.

[32] During the 1920s and 1930s, several prominent figures were frequent guests at Puerta de Hierro, most notably the kings of Sweden and Greece and the princes of Piedmont, Ligne and Wales (this last one being a usual member).

[33] King Gustaf V of Sweden, who played tennis in Cannes with several club members, used to visit Puerta de Hierro during his stays in Madrid.

On 27 April 1927, the ambassador of Spain to Sweden, the Count of San Esteban de Cañongo, organized a lunch in his honour in the main hall.

The club, which was situated in the very centre of the Madrid front, was, for the most part, Republican territory, while the Casa de Campo marked the beginning of the Nationalist area.

One of Mr. Durán's tasks during his time working at Puerta de hierro had been the collection and charge of club fees, which meant that he recalled the addresses of the majority of members prior to the war.

This way, Mr. Durán and the chief of registrars spent months travelling through Madrid in search of those who had survived the war, waiting for long hours outside hotels and embassies, where many who had lost their homes stayed.

On 9 October 1939, the group managed to gather sufficient ex-members for the enterprise to take off, in what was the first Board of the Reconstruction Committee, with an initial capital budget of 25,000 pesetas.

[38] Puerta de Hierro's first board after the war was celebrated on 21 October 1939 at The Palace Hotel, with one of the policies discussed being the "employee aid", which consisted of a significant raise in worker's salaries, who post-war had found themselves in great poverty.

The purpose of this extra-official visit, in the midst of the German invasion of France, was to negotiate possible alliances with Nazi Germany from Axis-leaning Spain.

Around 1920, the level of polo played at Puerta de Hierro was already considerable, to the extent that the club decided to put together a team with the aim of taking part in the Antwerp Summer Olympics.

The group, which represented Spain in men's polo at the Olympics, lost the final to its historic rival, Great Britain on 31 July in Ostend, by 13–11.

Unlike in Great Britain, where polo had been introduced by the military, in Spain, it was first played by aristocrats who brought the game with them from their boarding school days.

Nonetheless, earlier in 1928, Spain had sent three army officers to participate at team jumping in the Amsterdam Olympics: the captains Bohorques, Navarro and García.