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  • Podcast The step forward of Princess Leonor: this is how the Royal House wants to give her more prominence

The Government does not want Princess Leonor to swear to the Constitution on the day she turns 18, as her father did.

The reason is that on October 31, 2023, the Courts will presumably be dissolved and she would have to do so before the

Permanent Delegation

of Congress.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, believes that the

Royal House

will agree with the initiative to preserve the solemnity of the act.

Sánchez plans to exhaust the legislature to the limit.

If this prognosis is fulfilled and all the deadlines are exhausted, it would be finished on November 10, so the Chambers would be dissolved and the elections convened from October 16.

The oaths of the King and his heir or heiress are included in

Title II

of the Constitution, specifically in article 61.1, which establishes that "the King, upon being proclaimed before the Cortes Generales, will take an oath to faithfully carry out his functions, guard and enforce the Constitution and laws and respect the rights of citizens and the Autonomous Communities.

While 61.2 sanctions that "the Crown Prince (sic), upon reaching the age of majority, and the Regent or Regents upon taking over his functions, will take the same oath, as well as that of fidelity to the King".

King Felipe VI did it in 1986 in an act of enormous importance.

The wording of the article may leave room for the Executive's claim, although it is not clear because there are no precedents.

"It doesn't have to be the same day," assured the President of the Government from

Mostar

, in an informal conversation during his Balkan tour this weekend.

Sánchez considers that the Permanent Council is not the appropriate body to host an act of these characteristics and that it could be delayed for several months, until the Courts that emerge from the December elections are constituted.

The law establishes that this happens 25 days after the general elections are held, although the government election periods can be extended for months depending on the resulting majorities.

Specifically, there are two months from the first investiture vote, which would cause the heiress not to take the oath until last February.

Moncloa will negotiate with the Royal House the appropriate date for the swearing-in of Princess Leonor's Constitution and considers that King Felipe VI will be in favor of the heiress not swearing or promising before the body that governs the Chambers while the Cortes are dissolved.

According to the Constitution, the deputies of the Congress and the Senate are made up of a minimum of 21 members who proportionally represent the groups in the Chamber and are directed by the respective presidents.

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