No. 570.
Mr. Strobel to Mr.
Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Madrid, November 30,
1885.
No. 459.]Sir: By the constitutional provisions, of which I
inclose the original and translation, the surviving parent acts as regent
during the minority of the sovereign. The Queen, therefore, in the Gaceta of the 27th instant, proclaimed her regency as
follows:
In accordance with article 72 of the constitution of the monarchy,
all the acts of the Government will in the future he published in my
name as regent of the Kingdom during the minority of the prince or
princess who may legitimately succeed to the throne of my deceased
husband, Don Alfonso XII, according to the provisions of article 60
of the same constitution.
On the same date she took before the council of ministers the oath required,
the original and translation of which I also have the honor to inclose.
The heiress apparent to the throne is the young Princess of Asturias, who is
only five years of age. Matters are somewhat complicated, however, by the
fact that the Queen expects to be confined about next April. It is doubtful,
therefore, whether the little princess will be declared Queen of Spain or
whether there will be an interregnum until the confinement of the Queen. If
the Princess of Asturias should be proclaimed Queen and a prince should
afterwards be born, she would only have been a sort of provisional Queen, or
Queen in posse, which would seem an anomaly. As yet,
this question does not seem to have been considered, and probably will not
be until after the official publication of the Queen’s condition.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
459.—Translation.]
constitutional provisions for a
regency.
- Art. 60. The sovereign is a minor until
the completion of the seventeenth year.
- Art. 67. When the sovereign is a minor
the father or mother of the sovereign, and in the absence of these,
the relative nearest in the succession to the crown, according to
the order established in the constitution, will immediately enter
upon the regency and will exercise it during the whole period of the
sovereign’s minority.
- Art. 68. To be qualified for the
exercise of the regency, the nearest relative must be a Spaniard,
must have completed twenty years and not be excluded from the
succession to the crown. The father or mother of the sovereign shall
only be able to exercise the regency while remaining
unmarried.
- Art. 69. The regent shall take oath
before the Cortes to be faithful to the minor sovereign and to guard
the constitution and the laws. If the Cortes are not assembled, the
regent shall convene them immediately, and in the meanwhile shall
take the same oath before the council of ministers, and promise to
repeat it before the Cortes as soon as they are assembled.
- Art. 70. If there is no one Qualified
for the regency, a regency shall be named by the Cortes, and shall
be composed of one, three, or five persons. Until such appointment
is made, the Kingdom shall be provisionally governed by the council
of ministers.
- Art. 71. When the sovereign is unable to
exercise his authority, and this impossibility is recognized by the
Cortes, during this inability the regency shall be exercised by the
sovereign’s eldest son.
- Art. 72. The regent and the regency, in
whose name the acts of the government shall be published, will
exercise all the authority of the sovereign.
- Art. 73. The guardian of the minor
sovereign shall be the person named by the deceased sovereign in his
will, always provided that he be Spanish by birth. If none
[Page 766]
has been named, the
guardian shall he the father or mother, while remaining unmarried.
In the absence of these the Cortes shall appoint a guardian, but the
offices of regent and guardian of the sovereign shall not, except in
the father or mother of the same, be united in the same
person.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
459.—Translation.]
oath of regent.
The president of the council, by the leave of Her Majesty the Queen
regent, Dona Maria Cristina Hapsburg-Lorraine, read article 69 of the
constitution of the monarchy, which prescribes the oath to be taken by
the regent of the Kingdom, and in view of the fact that Her Majesty the
Queen, by the death of her much beloved consort, D. Alfonso XII, is
called upon, in accordance with article 67 of the constitution to
exercise the regency, and as she has deigned to manifest her free and
spontaneous wish to comply with the constitutional provision, in the
presence of the council of ministers, having knelt before the crucifix
and having placed her hand upon the Book of the Holy Gospels, she
pronounced the following oath:
“I swear, by God and the Holy Gospels, to be faithful to the heir of the
crown during the minority, and to guard the constitution and the laws,
and I promise to repeat this oath before the Cortes as soon as they are
assembled. If I do, may God aid and defend me, and if I do not, may He
call me to account.”
