After almost thirty years as Felipe de Borbó’s most direct and loyal advisor, State Attorney Jaime Alfonsín leaves, at his own request, the position of head of the King’s House to be replaced by diplomat Camilo Villarino, current chief of staff of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.
The Palace of the Zarzuela made public yesterday, in the middle of the afternoon, a statement in which it was informed of the relief that the King has carried out, in accordance with the provisions of article 65.2 of the Constitution, which empowers him to to civil and military appointments in the House of the King. While the resignation of Jaime Alfonsín (Lugo, 1956) is notified, the appointment of Camilo Villarino Marzo (Saragossa, 1964) is taken into account, who will take office in the coming weeks. Alfonsín leaves the front line, but, at the King’s wish, he will continue as a private councillor. From the new mission, according to the press release, Alfonsín will continue to provide the head of state “the advice he requires and will carry out the functions entrusted to him”.
Although the relief has caused surprise, the truth is that Jaime Alfonsín had communicated to the King his desire to leave the position after turning 65. At the request of the Head of State, the former Head of the House of the King, who turned 67 in August, undertook to continue until Princess Eleonor came of age.
Jaime Alfonsín arrived at Zarzuela in September 1995, months after Felipe de Borbó finished his studies at Georgetown University (Washington) to take charge of the recently created secretariat of the Prince of Asturias. Lawyer of the State and number one in his promotion, after several years in a public position he started working at the Uría i Menéndez law firm, from where he was recruited by King Joan Carles to become the ‘shadow of the then Prince Felipe and contribute to filling his functions as heir to the Crown with content.
It was Jaime Alfonsín’s turn to fill Prince Felipe’s agenda by linking him to activities such as attending the inaugurations of Latin American presidents which, over the years, have meant that the current King is a great connoisseur of the changes that have occurred in the area.
Outside the official activities, Jaime Alfonsín, as head of the secretariat of the Prince of Asturias, managed the organization of the wedding of Prince Felipe with Letizia Ortiz, as well as that which was related to the then infants Elionor and Sofia. He also coordinated the secretariat of the then Princess of Asturias, which depended on that of the
In the last years of the reign of Juan Carlos I, with the addition of the Nóos case, Jaime Alfonsín was eager to keep the Prince of Asturias out of any controversy. Within the Zarzuela, but not in the decision-making center, Alfonsín found himself tasked with preparing the proclamation of King Felipe without having participated in the abdication process of King Juan Carlos.
Alfonsín stepped down as head of the Prince’s secretariat for obvious reasons, after the King’s proclamation on June 19, 2014, and was immediately appointed head of the King’s Household. His first decisions were the formulation of a code of ethics that the King made public to correct practices of the previous reign.
The first period of King Juan Carlos as abdicate was not easy, due to the numerous interventions of the previous monarch in internal matters of the Zarzuela, but the worst came with the avalanche of information linking the father of King with economic and fiscal irregularities that threatened to destabilize the first years of Felipe VI’s reign. It was up to Alfonsín to prepare the statement made public on March 15, 2020, in which the King, in addition to withdrawing from his father the allocation he received from the budgets of the House of the King, renounced a possible inheritance of property obtained unclearly. Five months later, King Juan Carlos left Spain in the direction of Abu Dhabi, which caused a new crisis within the institution and the royal family, which Alfonsín endured by maintaining the correct judgment with which the current head of the state. His last task was to design the role of the princess of Asturias.
The new head of the House of the King, Camilo Villarino, has served as a high official of Foreign Affairs. In addition to Borrell’s chief of staff, as a minister and now in the EU, Villarino has held the same position with the holders of Foreign Affairs Afonso Dastis and Arancha González Laya.
Diplomatic sources define him as the example of a servant of the State, without political affiliation. With the arrival of Villarino, there is once again a diplomat at the head of the Zarzuela, as were Fernando Almansa, Alberto Aza and Rafael Spottorno, who successively held the position of head of the House of the King during the reign of John Charles I.