The death of Alfonso I, called the Battler or the Warrior, the king of Aragón and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134, had led to a succession crisis in Aragon, and the nobles of Navarre had taken advantage to reestablish an independent monarchy, crowning a grandnephew (through an illegitimate brother) of the assassinated Sancho IV.

King García Ramírez, the grandson of Rodrigo Díaz, better known as El Cid, is the son of Ramiro Sánchez of Monzón and Cristina Rodríguez Díaz de Vivar.

Sometime after 1130, but before his succession, García had married Marguerite de l'Aigle, who has borne him a son and successor, Sancho VI, as well as two daughters who have each married kings: the elder, Blanca, born after 1133, has married Sancho III of Castile, while the younger, Margaret, named after her mother, has married William I of Sicily.

García's relationship with his first queen was, however, shaky.

She took on many lovers and showed favoritism to her French relatives.

She had borne a second son named Rodrigo, whom her husband has refused to recognize as his own.

On 24 June 1144, in León, García had married Urraca, called "La Asturiana" (the Asturian), illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VII by Guntroda Pérez, to strengthen his relationship with his overlord.

An ally of Castile in the Reconquista, García has been instrumental in the conquest of Almería in 1147.

In 1146, he had occupied Tauste, which belonged to Aragon, and Alfonso had intervened to mediate a peace between the two kingdoms.

By his marriage to Urraca, García had also become a brother-in-law of Raymond Berengar IV, with whom he had confirmed a peace treaty in 1149.

The count has been promised to García's daughter Blanca while already engaged to Petronilla of Aragon, but García dies on November 21, 1150 in Lorca, near Estella, before the marriage can be carried out.

Buried in the cathedral of Santa María in Pamplona, García is succeeded by his eldest son, leaving one daughter by Urraca: Sancha, who is to marry Gaston V of Béarn.

He leaves a widow in the person of his third wife, Ganfreda López.

His successor, as Sancho VI, is the first to use the title "King of Navarre" as the sole designation of his kingdom, dropping Pamplona out of titular use.