The Princess of Asturias before her appointment with history to make official the continuity of the parliamentary monarchy

The heir to the throne will swear the Constitution and her loyalty to the King and will receive the necklace of Charles III

MADRID, 30 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

This Tuesday, Princess Leonor will swear in the Constitution in a solemn act before the Cortes with a markedly symbolic character that represents the continuity of the parliamentary monarchy and through which she will become the full heir to the throne.

The Princess of Asturias reaches the age of majority on October 31, so, in accordance with the provisions of the Magna Carta, in the event of the death, incapacity or abdication of Felipe VI, she could succeed her immediately. Until now, if this had occurred, the regency of her mother, Queen Letizia, was planned.

The oath will take place on the same Constitution on which his father, the now King Felipe VI, fulfilled this requirement on January 30, 1986, and the words will also be the same: "I swear to faithfully perform my duties, to keep and to keep the Constitution and the laws and respect the rights of citizens and the autonomous communities and fidelity to the King".

In recent days, both the King's House and the Government have highlighted the importance of this institutional act and its significance. During the presentation of the Princess of Asturias Awards on October 20, the King expressly addressed his daughter, highlighting that the swearing in of the Constitution is "an act of enormous institutional significance, historical symbolism and personal commitment."

The Government has tried to minimize the absence of some of the ministers in an event that its spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, has described as "of great historical and symbolic significance and with an important legal dimension."

In the press conference after the Council of Ministers, Rodríguez claimed that "the Government will be practically complete", despite the absence of the heads of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, and of Equality, Irene Montero, both from Podemos, and of the head of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, leader of Izquierda Unida.

The spokesperson assured that the Executive attaches "great importance" to the event and has treated all the preparations "with great care." "We have approached it wanting to demonstrate the strength of our democracy and guaranteeing the continuity of the Crown as a central institution in our political system and demonstrating that the monarchy is also on that path of always being on the side of the Constitution," he stated. the spokesperson.

The absences of the three ministers will not be the only ones. Neither the deputies nor the senators from PNV, EH Bildu, ERC, Junts and BNG will attend the solemn session in Congress.

In the same way, and contrary to what happened on January 30, 1986, not all the presidents of autonomous communities will be present, since those of the Basque Country, Íñigo Urkullu, and that of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès, have declined their attendance for ideological reasons. In turn, the president of Cantabria, María José Saénz de Buruaga, cannot attend either since she has a meeting of the Government Council to approve the budgets.

The PP has not hesitated to make all these absences ugly for the acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, since, as its general secretary, Cuca Gamarra, has highlighted, these are potential partners for his inauguration for a second term. . "It shows who Pedro Sánchez is willing to make an agreement with in order to remain at the head of the Government," she lamented.

The swearing in of the Constitution also occurs in the midst of the debate surrounding the amnesty, after Sánchez finally openly recognized this Saturday that this is the "only way" to reissue his mandate. It remains to be seen if this debate around the investiture, with the deadline of November 27 increasingly approaching, sneaks into the events planned for the day at some point.

If this is done, it could be in the speech that the president of Congress, Francina Armengol, will offer prior to the oath of Princess Leonor or by Sánchez himself during the imposition of Charles III's necklace in the event that will take place later in the Royal Palace.

Even less likely is that there could be any type of reference to the current political context during the intervention made by the Princess of Asturias after receiving this decoration or in the words spoken by her father, the King, at the commemorative lunch that will take place afterwards.

Nor was the swearing-in of the then Prince of Asturias on January 30, 1986 without controversy. A scuffle between the president of Congress, Gregorio Peces-Barba, and the president of the Government, Felipe González, both socialists, was the trigger for the central event in the Lower House to be followed by another in the Royal Palace.

The president of Congress did not consider it appropriate for González to intervene during the solemn session in the Lower House and so he was transferred to Moncloa. To his surprise, the Government chose to organize a parallel event in the Royal Palace to impose the collar of the Order of Charles III on the heir to the throne.

As then, Princess Leonor will also receive this distinction, but she will do so before the members of the Government and all public powers, which includes the presidents of both chambers, something that did not happen in 1986, when neither Peces-Barba nor the then president of the Senate were invited.

Unlike then, the King is also scheduled to make a speech during the commemorative lunch that has been organized afterwards and to which a hundred people have been invited. In his case, there was a reception with more than a thousand guests but Juan Carlos I did not speak publicly.

Another difference is that the King Emeritus will not be present. When Don Felipe, then Prince of Asturias, swore the Constitution, he did so in the presence of the Kings, his sisters, the infantas Elena and Cristina, and his paternal grandfather, Don Juan de Borbón.

What's more, the Count of Barcelona was expressly mentioned in the speech given by Peces-Barba, who praised the "effort and sacrifice" made by him, since he renounced his dynastic rights in favor of his son whom Franco designated as his heir. without your approval.

Now, Don Juan Carlos, like Doña Sofía, have been left out of the two institutional events, illustrating once again the distance that Felipe VI has wanted to mark with his father since the beginning of his reign and more as a result of the various judicial investigations in which he was involved.

Thus, the emeritus Kings have only been invited to the family celebration that will take place at the El Pardo Palace in the afternoon, which will be attended by the King's family, which includes his sisters and nephews, some of whom are already They have announced that they will not attend, as well as Queen Letizia's family.

This will be the first time that Don Juan Carlos sees his granddaughter and future queen since he moved to the United Arab Emirates in August 2020. Although the monarch for almost four decades has made several visits to Spain since then, he has not coincided in none of them with Princess Leonor.

The Princess of Asturias was studying in Wales when the emeritus made the only visit in these more than three years to the Zarzuela Palace at the end of May 2022. Then, Don Juan Carlos had the opportunity to hold a private meeting with Don Felipe, in addition to having lunch with a good part of his family.