It has been almost 18 years since it has been known that on October 31 Eleonor de Borbó will reach the age of majority, but, with just over two months to go until that date, it is still not known if the birthday of the heir to the throne may coincide with the day on which the Courts convene the celebration of the solemn ceremony in which the Princess of Asturias, as her father did on January 30, 1986, will swear the Constitution.
According to article 61 of the Magna Carta, “the Crown Prince, upon reaching the age of majority, and the regent or regents upon taking charge of their functions, shall take before the General Courts the oath to keep and to keep the Constitution and the laws and respect the rights of the citizens and the autonomous communities, and also that of loyalty to the King”.
The coming of age of the Princess of Asturias also eliminates the possibility of Queen Letícia assuming the regency. This constitutional measure has been in force since the proclamation of Felipe VI, on June 19, 2014, and would have been put into practice in the event that the King had died during the time when his heir was a minor .
The post-election calendar again conditions the Princess’s oath and reopens the debate that took place months ago when the general election was expected to be held at the end of 2023, so it could have coincided with the coming of age date of Eleonor with the dissolved Courts. The current president in office, Pedro Sánchez, started the melon questioning that the ceremony should be held on October 31 itself. Taking refuge in the literalness of article 61 – “on reaching the age of majority” -, Sánchez argued that the ceremony could be delayed a few months until the new Courts were constituted.
The opinions of some constitutional experts who endorsed this possibility then came to the fore, while others highlighted the symbolic value of the act in which the heiress assumes that, once she has reached the age of majority , she can already be declared queen if her father or regent dies in the event that the Courts recognize the temporary disqualification of the King.
The turn of the script and the electoral advance have changed the circumstances, but not the uncertainty. The Courts that arose from the elections of July 23 will be constituted on Thursday, August 17, and, even in the hypothetical case of an electoral repeat, given the deadlines set by the Magna Carta, they would continue to be active on August 31 October The question that is now being debated is whether there will be a new government at that time or if, on the contrary, no candidate for the presidency has passed the investiture and a repeat of the elections is in sight.
From August 17, after the constitution of the Courts, the King will receive the new president of the Congress, who will give him the list with the spokespersons of the political formations with parliamentary representation so that they can be summoned to the Zarzuela. The round of consultations until the head of state proposes a candidate for the investiture can be extended until the first or second week of September. If the proposed candidate, in the first or second ballot, obtains the parliamentary majority, a new government could be formed at the beginning of October. The Zarzuela would have an interlocutor and the swearing-in ceremony of the Constitution of the Princess could be held, if decided jointly, with the Courts and the government in full exercise of their functions, on October 31 itself.
There is only one background to the ceremony: Felipe de Borbó swore to the Constitution on the same day he turned 18. If the same scheme is followed, in addition to the kings, the deputies and senators will be present at the event, in a solemn and joint session, and also the government and representatives of the other high institutions of the State, from the autonomous communities, diplomatic corps and other guests. The president of the Congress, as Gregorio Peces-Barba did in his day with Felipe de Borbó, will take an oath to the princess of Asturias.
In the event that the first candidate proposed by the King does not pass the investiture, the two-month period to propose a new candidate would begin to run or, once the period has expired, call new elections. In these cases, the two-month period would exceed October 31, so that day the Courts would be in session, but very close to their possible dissolution. In this scenario, although it is the President of Congress who is responsible for summoning the Princess’s oath, the political crisis, the foreseeable tension and the interim nature of a government in office would make it inadvisable to hold a ceremony of such high value symbolic and institutional. That honor would have to wait.
