Prince of Asturias

Príncipe de Asturias was a redirect to this article. For other meanings, see Príncipe de Asturias (disambiguation) .

Coat of arms of the Prince of Asturias

Swearing in of the Cortes on the Infante Ferdinand as Prince of Asturias in 1789

Prince of Asturias ( Príncipe de Asturias ) has been one of the official titles of the heir to the throne of Castile since 1388 . After the unification of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon to form the Kingdom of Spain at the turn of the 16th century, the title passed to the respective Spanish crown prince . Since 1529, the princes of Asturias usually also bear the title of Prince of Gerona as heir to the throne of the Crown of Aragon and Prince of Viana as heir to the throne in the Kingdom of Navarre .

The current bearer is Leonor de Borbón y Ortiz , the eldest daughter of King Felipe VI.

Origin and meaning

The title not only refers to the Principality of Asturias established by King John I in 1388 to provide material for the heir to the throne , but also contains an intended historical reminiscence of the former Kingdom of Asturias , which defied the Arab conquest of the Iberian Peninsula from 711 onwards Christian Visigothic residents remained as the last base of retreat and was therefore seen as the nucleus of the Reconquista . The old Kingdom of Asturias or Asturias-León was incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile in the 13th century. By giving their heirs to the throne the title of Prince of Asturias, the Castilian rulers invoked the traditional spirit of Christian resistance against Muslim Al-Andalus , whose recapture was only completed with the capture of Granada in 1492.

The title of Prince of Asturias has survived all political and constitutional upheavals in Spain and has been held again by the Spanish Crown Prince since 1977 after the interruption caused by the Second Republic and the Franco dictatorship .

According to the current legal situation, the heir to the throne, according to Article 2 of Royal Decree No. 1368/1987 of November 6, 1987, bears the title from birth or from the moment in which he becomes heir to the throne.

Previously, the award of the title was celebrated with a grand ceremony during a meeting of the Cortes. The Cortes swore to recognize the heir to the throne later as king and the heir to the throne (if he was already able to do so himself) swore to obey the old laws and to remain loyal to his father. According to the current constitution , the Principe de Asturias swears in front of the assembled members of both houses of the Cortes Generales , when he reaches the age of majority, to faithfully fulfill his duties, to observe the constitution and the laws, to protect the rights of citizens and the regions and to be loyal to the King.

Legal status, salutation, designation, translation

The title of Príncipe de Asturias is due to the heir to the throne by virtue of Article 57, Paragraph 2 of the Spanish Constitution of December 27, 1978 from birth or when he gains the first position in the line of succession.

An heir to the throne and the wife of an heir to the throne hold the title of Princesa de Asturias in accordance with Article 2 of Royal Decree No. 1368/1987 of 6 November 1987 on the nature of titles, salutations and honors of the Royal Family . The husband of an heir to the throne also bears the title of Príncipe de Asturias according to the same rule . The title of the heir to the throne is Alteza Real ( Royal Highness ).

The word Príncipe (from Latin princeps , "the first"), which can be translated into German with either Prinz or Fürst , is correctly translated here as Fürst . In general language, however, the term Prince of Asturias has prevailed, since in German usage the children of a monarch or prince are usually referred to as princes or princesses and the title Príncipe de Asturias is firmly linked to the position of the crown prince, so that its bearer is always also associated with it Is Prince of Spain. Royal children as such are not referred to as "princes" ( príncipe or princesa ) in the Spanish monarchy , but rather as " infants " ( infante or infanta ). Although the Spanish heir to the throne does not have a special constitutional position in today's autonomous community " Principality of Asturias " ( Principado de Asturias ), the translation of the title with " Prince of Asturias" is to be regarded as more accurate in view of the traditional territorial reference and the Spanish word usage ( a similar phenomenon can be found with the title Prince of Wales in relation to the British royal family).

List of the princes of Asturias

The persons named by the Carlist pretenders to the throne are not mentioned in this list . The people who were in the first place in the line of succession without an official proclamation as the heir to the throne are also missing in the following list. These are Maria Teresa and Luisa Fernanda and Alfons of Bourbon-Sicily . The Roman numerals indicate the 2004 numbering of the Royal Academy of Heraldry and Genealogy.

	Surname	Year of birth	Title from - to	Reason for losing the title
	I Heinrich of Trastámara and Barcelona	1379	1388-1390	King of Castile and León as Henry III.
	II Mary of Trastámara and Lancaster	1401	1402-1405	Birth of his brother Johann
	III John of Trastámara and Lancaster	1405	1405-1406	King of Castile and León as John II.
	IV Catherine of Trastámar and Trastámara	1422	1422-1424	died
	V Heinrich von Trastámar and Trastámara	1425	1425-1454	King of Castile and León as Henry IV.
	VI Joan of Trastámar and Avis	1462	1462-1464	Reorganization of the line of succession
	VII Alfons of Trastámar and Avis	1453	1464-1468	died
	VIII Isabella of Trastámar and Avis	1451	1468-1474	Queen of Castile and León as Isabella I.
	IX Isabella of Trastámara and Trastámara	1470	1476-1478, 1498	Birth of his brother Johann, died
	X John of Trastámara and Trastámara	1478	1478-1497	died
	XI Michael from Avis and Trastámar	1498	1499-1500	died
	XII Joan of Trastámara and Trastámara	1479	1502-1504	Queen of Castile and León as Joan I.
	XIII Charles of Austria and Trastámara	1500	1506-1516	King of Spain as Charles I.
	XIV Philip of Austria and Avis	1527	1528-1556	King of Spain as Philip II
	XV Charles of Austria and Avis	1545	1560-1568	died
	XVI Ferdinand of Austria and Austria	1571	1573-1578	died
	XVII Diego of Austria and Austria	1575	1580-1582	died
	XVIII Philip of Austria and Austria	1578	1584-1598	King of Spain as Philip III.
	XIX Philip of Austria and Austria-Styria	1605	1608-1621	King of Spain as Philip IV.
	XX Baltasar Carlos of Austria and Bourbon	1629	1632-1646	died
	XXI Philipp Prospero of Austria and Austria	1657	1657-1661	died
	XXII Charles of Austria and Austria	1661	1661-1665	King of Spain as Charles II
	XXIII Louis of Bourbon and Savoy	1707	1709-1724	King of Spain as Ludwig I.
	XXIV Ferdinand of Bourbon and Savoy	1713	1724-1746	King of Spain as Ferdinand VI.
	XXV Charles of Bourbon and Saxony	1748	1760-1788	King of Spain as Charles IV.
	XXVI Ferdinand of Bourbon and Bourbon-Parma	1784	1789-1808	King of Spain as Ferdinand VII.
	XXVII Isabella of Bourbon and Bourbon-Naples-Sicily	1830	1833	Queen of Spain as Isabella II.
	XXVIII Isabella of Bourbon and Bourbon	1851	1851-1857	Birth of brother Alfons
	XXIX Alfonso of Bourbon and Bourbon	1857	1858-1870	His mother's resignation to the throne in his favor
	XXX Emanuel Philibert of Savoy and del Pozzo	1869	1871-1873	His father's resignation from the throne
	XXVIII Isabella of Bourbon and Bourbon	1851	1875-1880	Birth of the niece Maria de las Mercedes
	XXXI Maria de las Mercedes of Bourbon and Habsburg-Lothringen	1880	1881-1904	died
	XXXII Alfons of Bourbon and Battenberg	1907	1907-1933	Waiver of his rights
	XXXIII Juan of Bourbon and Battenberg	1913	1933-1941	Holder of the title without official recognition
	XXXIV Juan Carlos of Bourbon and Bourbon-Naples-Sicily	1938	1941-1975	King of Spain as Juan Carlos I.
	XXXV. Philip of Bourbon and Greece	1968	1977-2014	King of Spain as Felipe VI.
	XXXVI. Leonor of Bourbon and Ortiz	2005	since 2014

See also

• Prince of Asturias Prize

literature

• José Luis Sampedro Escolar: La numeración de los Príncipes de Asturias, Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genelogía, Madrid 2004, there also references to further literature in Spanish ( "La numeración de los Príncipes de Asturias" )

Web links

Commons : Prince of Asturias  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• José Luis Sampedro Escolar: La Numeración de los Príncipes de Asturias. (PDF) Real Academía Matritense Heráldica y Genealogía, 2004, p. 16 , accessed on March 23, 2015 (Spanish). 
• Compilation of edicts with original Spanish texts and English translations and explanations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ REAL DECRETO 1368/1987, de 6 de noviembre, sobre régimen de tirulos ,ertramientos y honores de la Familia Real y de los Regentes. (Royal Decree 1368/1987, of November 6th, regulating the titles, salutations and honors of the royal family and rulers). (PDF) In: Boletín Oficial del Estado. Ministerio de Justicia, November 12, 1987, p. 1 (33717) , accessed on March 23, 2015 (Spanish, format = pdf). 
2. ↑ The Spanish Constitution. (PDF) Approved by the Cortes in the plenary sessions of the Congress of Deputies and Senate held on October 31, 1978 / Ratified by the Spanish people by referendum on December 6, 1978 / Sanctioned by His Majesty the King before the Cortes on December 27, 1978 (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 28, 2012 ; accessed on March 23, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ REAL DECRETO 1368/1987, de 6 de noviembre, sobre régimen de tirulos ,ertramientos y honores de la Familia Real y de los Regentes. (Royal Decree 1368/1987, of November 6th, regulating the titles, salutations and honors of the royal family and rulers). (PDF) In: Boletín Oficial del Estado. Ministerio de Justicia, November 12, 1987, p. 1 (33717) , accessed on March 23, 2015 (Spanish, format = pdf). 
4. ↑ José Luis Sampedro Escolar: La Numeración de los Príncipes de Asturias. (PDF) Real Academía Matritense Heráldica y Genealogía, 2004, p. 16 , accessed on March 23, 2015 (Spanish).