Spanish monarchy
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The Spanish Monarchy (Spanish: Monarquía española) is the parliamentary monarchy of Spain. The King or Queen regnant of Spain (Rey de España or Reina de España) is the Head of State and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Armed Forces. The king also arbitrates and moderates the regular functioning of the state institutions. The Monarch's power is mainly symbolic, because most royal acts must be countersigned by either the Prime Minister of Spain or other minister and in the case of appointing the prime minister the President of the Congress of Deputies to be valid. However, the monarchy played an important role in Spain's transition from Francoism to multi-party parliamentary democracy in the 1970's, and was crucial in surpressing the 23-F attempted coup d'etat.
The current King is Juan Carlos I, who is styled as "His Majesty". The monarchy is established in Title
II, articles 56 to 65 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 (in which it is
referred to as the Crown of Spain, corona de España). The constitutional title of the monarch is simply "King of
Spain". A much longer titulary which contains a list of over 20 kingdoms etc, is not in state use, nor is it used in Spanish
diplomacy, but is officially recognized in Article 56 of the Spanish Constitution.[1]
The official residence of the Spanish monarch is the Royal Palace of Madrid (Palacio Real de Madrid). However, the royal family actually resides at the Palacio de la Zarzuela on the outskirts of Madrid.
The heir apparent to the Spanish monarchy receives the titles Prince of Asturias, Prince of Gerona, Prince of
Viana, Duke of Montblanc, Count of
Cervera and Lord of Balaguer, Asturias being on behalf of
Kingdom of Castile; Gerona, Balaguer and Montblanc on behalf of Kingdom of Aragon and Sovereign County of Barcelona, and
Viana, a disputed title, on behalf of Kingdom of
Navarre. The current heir apparent of Spain is Prince
Felipe.
Full Titulary
- See also: Spanish monarchy full Titulary
The full titulary of the kings of Spain, although not in active use, is as follows:
- King of Spain, King of Castile, of León, of Aragón, of the Two Sicilies, of Jerusalem, of Navarre, of Granada, of Toledo, of Valencia, of Galicia, of Sardinia, of Córdoba, of Corsica, of Murcia, of Jaén, of the Algarves, of Algeciras, of Gibraltar, of the Canary Islands, of the East and West Indies, of the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea; Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, of Brabant, of Milan, of Athens and Neopatras; Count of Habsburg, of Flanders, of Tyrol, of Roussillon, and of Barcelona; Lord of Vizcaya and of Molina; Captain-General and Supreme Head of the Royal Armed Forces; Sovereign Grand-Master of the Order of the Golden Fleece and of the orders awarded by the Spanish state.
These titles are not officially designated in the 1978 constitution, but the constitution notes that the title of the King is King of Spain and further grants the right to use "the others pertaining to the Crown" (los demás que correspondan a la Corona). The list provided above is of the titles used by Alfonso XIII, which, by this provision of the constitution, the King is entitled to use.[2]
Relatives of the King
The King's wife name is Sofia and she was originally a Greek princess; her brother is the former King Constantine of Greece. Together, the King and Queen have three children - Elena, Cristina, and Felipe - all of whom are married and have children. Crown Prince Felipe is the father of two young daughters, the Infantas Leonor and Sofia.
The King has two sisters: HRH the Infanta Pilar and HRH the Infanta Margarita.
See also
References
External links
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