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The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a hereditary monarch that reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The current King is Felipe VI since 19 June 2014, after the abdication of his father, King Juan Carlos I.
The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government, is the head of government of Spain. The prime minister chairs the Council of Ministers and nominates its ministers; in these sense, the prime minister establishes the Government policies and coordinates the actions of the Cabinet members. As chief executive, the prime minister also advises the monarch on the exercise of their royal prerogatives.
Spanish nobles are persons who possess a title of nobility confirmed by Spain's Ministry of Justice, as well as those individuals appointed to one of the three highest orders of knighthood of the kingdom, namely the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Order of Charles III and the Order of Isabella the Catholic. Some nobles possess various titles that may be inherited or not, but the creation and recognition of titles is legally the prerogative of the King of Spain.
The Kingdom of Castile was a polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It traces its origins to the 9th-century County of Castile, as an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of Asturias. During the 10th century, the Castilian counts increased their autonomy, but it was not until 1065 that it was separated from León and became a kingdom in its own right. Between 1072 and 1157, it was again united with León, and after 1230, the union became permanent.
Master of the Horse is an official position in several European nations. It was more common when most countries in Europe were monarchies, and is of varying prominence today.
Infante, also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain and Portugal to the sons and daughters (infantas) of the king, regardless of age, sometimes with the exception of the heir apparent or heir presumptive to the throne who usually bears a unique princely or ducal title. A woman married to a male infante was accorded the title of infanta if the marriage was dynastically approved, although since 1987 this is no longer automatically the case in Spain. Husbands of born infantas did not obtain the title of infante through marriage, although they were occasionally elevated to the title de gracia at the sovereign's command.
The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then Castilian king, Ferdinand III, to the vacant Leonese throne. It continued to exist as a separate entity after the personal union in 1469 of the crowns of Castile and Aragon with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs up to the promulgation of the Nueva Planta decrees by Philip V in 1715.
The Royal Household of Spain, officially the Household of His Majesty the King, is the constitutional body whose primary function is to provide aid and support to the King of Spain in the exercise of his royal duties and prerogatives. These include his role as head of state and as commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed Forces. It functions as the king's executive office.
Sancho de la Cerda, 1st Marquis of la Laguna,, was a Spanish nobleman and diplomat.
Isabella I, also called Isabella the Catholic, was Queen of Castile and León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon from 1479 until her death as the wife of King Ferdinand II. Reigning together over a dynastically unified Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand are known as the Catholic Monarchs.
The Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain was the institution that governed the organization of the Royal Spanish Court from the time of the Habsburg dynasty, which introduced the so-called Burgundian etiquette, up to the reign of Alfonso XIII, great-grandfather of the current King of Spain Felipe VI, in all that regarded the structure of the Court as well as the ceremonial matters, etiquette and protocol.
The Caballerizo mayor was the Officer of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain in charge of the trips, the mews, and the hunt of the King of Spain.
The Camarera mayor de Palacio was the Official of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain, who was in charge of the person and the rooms of the Queen of Spain.
The Mayordomo mayor was the Officer of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain in charge of the person and rooms of the King of Spain. The Office of “Mayordomo mayor” was suppressed after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931 and never re-created after the restoration of the Monarchy in 1975, but it can be said that it is the historical precedent of the modern Head of the Royal Household of Spain.
The Sumiller de Corps was the Officer of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain in charge of the more intimate and inner rooms of the King of Spain. He was responsible of the most immediate service to the Monarch. This Office was suppressed after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931 and never re-created after the restoration of the Monarchy in 1975.
The Gentilhombres Grandes de España con ejercicio y servidumbre was a palatial class of honorary royal servants of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain, who were entrusted with certain functions at the service of the Monarch which they exercised by rigorous seniority.
The Gentilhombres de cámara con ejercicio was a palatine class of honorary royal servants of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain, who acceded to that class as an honor awarded by the Monarch. The members of this class neither had specific functions inside the ceremonial scheme of the Court, nor exercised active service with a few exceptions, being their appointment a sign of the royal appreciation.
The Portuguese nobility was a social class enshrined in the laws of the Kingdom of Portugal with specific privileges, prerogatives, obligations and regulations. The nobility ranked immediately after royalty and was itself subdivided into a number of subcategories which included the titled nobility and nobility of blood at the top and civic nobility at the bottom, encompassing a small, but not insignificant proportion of Portugal's citizenry.
The coat of arms of Castile was the heraldic emblem of its monarchs. Historian Michel Pastoureau says that the original purpose of heraldic emblems and seals was to facilitate the exercise of power and the identification of the ruler, due to what they offered for achieving these aims. These symbols were associated with the kingdom, and eventually also represented the intangible nature of the national sentiment or sense of belonging to a territory.
José de Saavedra y Salamanca, 2nd Marquess of Viana, GE was a Spanish peer, courtier and hunter.
References
Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana. Volume 49. Hijos de J. Espasa, Editores.1923
[Guia Oficial de España. Sucesores de Ribadeneyra. Madrid. 1930]