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Date Published: 31/10/2023
Spanish heir to the throne, Princess Leonor, pledges allegiance to constitution
The Princess reaffirmed her commitment to uphold the values of the constitution of Spain and continue the monarchical line
This Tuesday October 31, Princess Leonor, the heir to the Spanish throne, pledged her allegiance to the constitution in a ceremony that was held at the Congress building in Madrid on the date of her 18th birthday.
All other parliamentary business was suspended for the day given the increased security protocols to be followed due to the presence of so many high-profile royals and dignitaries.
As is customary for heirs to throne, Leonor swore the official oath to uphold the Spanish constitution just as her father, King Felipe VI, did 37 years earlier.
King Felipe was present at the swearing in ceremony, as his father the Emeritus King Juan Carlos I was present at his in 1986, but the former monarch of Spain, who abdicated in 2014, was not present due to his self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi following tax avoidance controversies.
However, the King and his estranged wife will be present at Leonor’s private birthday party at the palace after the ceremony.
The pledge of allegiance by the heir to the throne is designed to provide a formal guarantee of the continuity of the monarchy.
Also present at the ceremony today were Princess Leonor’s mother, Queen Letizia, her younger sister, the Infanta Sofía, who attends private school in Wales, and Spain’s acting President, Pedro Sánchez, among many others.
While the President praised the oath by the future Queen as a reaffirmation to Spain of “the strength of its institutions and of its democracy, which is based on the constitutional principles of coexistence, equality, liberty and political pluralism”, the event was notable for the absence of several government ministers and MPs, who boycotted the ceremony in protest at the Spanish monarchy.
While republicanism can hardly be said to be a majority sentiment in Spain, there is certainly a stronger faction of society that would like to see the monarchy abolished than there is in other countries, such as the United Kingdom.
The pledge of allegiance was followed by a military parade in Madrid, which was watched by those present.
Los Reyes, la Princesa de Asturias y la Infanta Sofía presiden el desfile militar en la Carrera de San Jerónimo con motivo del acto de jura de la Constitución Española de la Princesa.#JuraConstituciónPrincesa
— Casa de S.M. el Rey (@CasaReal) October 31, 2023
âž¡ï¸https://t.co/2wygIkvCjP pic.twitter.com/afkXHe0wk0
Images: @CasaReal/Twitter
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