200px, The Coat of Arms of the Princes of Girona The Prince or Princess of Girona ( ca, Príncep o Princesa de Girona) is a title that was historically accorded to the

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

to the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...

. Current legislation mandates the title of Prince of Asturias to the heir of the Spanish throne but allows for the use of other traditional titles; the current title-holder, therefore, is Leonor, Princess of Girona.

Origin of the title

It originated in 1351 when King

Peter IV of Aragon Peter IV, ; an, Pero, ; es, Pedro, . In Catalan, he may also be nicknamed ''el del punyalet'': "he of the little dagger". (Catalan: ''Pere IV''; 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''el Cerimoniós''), w ...

named his successor, to whom he conceded the title of Duke of

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

; the title embraced territories of the counties of Girona,

Besalú Besalú () is a town in the ''comarca'' of Garrotxa, in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town's importance was greater in the early Middle Ages, as capital of the county of Besalú, whose territory was roughly the same size as the current ''comarca' ...

Empúries Empúries ( ca, Empúries ) was an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, Spain. Empúries is also known by its Spanish name, Ampurias ( es, Ampurias ). The city Ἐμπόριον ( el, Ἐμπόριον, Emporion, meaning "tradi ...

and Ausona. In part I of the ''Constitucions i Altres Drets de Cathalunya'', the section headed ''Genealogia dels Reys d'Aragó i Comtes de Barcelona'' speaks of the genealogy of John I of Aragon, son of Peter IV, saying that John and Violant had a son named James, "lo qual intitularen Delphi

auphin Shatranj ( ar, شطرنج; fa, شترنج; from Middle Persian ''chatrang'' ) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire. Its origins are in the Indian game of Chaturanga, chaturaṅga. Modern chess gradually developed from this ...

de Girona". On 19 February 1416,

Ferdinand I of Aragon Ferdinand I (Spanish: ''Fernando I''; 27 November 1380 – 2 April 1416 in Igualada, Òdena) named Ferdinand of Antequera and also the Just (or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and (nominal) Corsica and king of Sicily ...

, considering the title of duke insufficient, raised it to the rank of Principality of Girona. However, these titles fell into gradual disuse until the 20th century as the heir of the King of Spain became better known by the hereditary title of the

Crown of Castile 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 accessi ...

, " Prince of Asturias."

Modern usage

In 1961, when announcing the wedding the future Juan Carlos I of Spain and Sofia of Greece, the Spanish Royal House issued the young prince, as titles of pretense, the style of "Prince of Asturias," "Prince of Girona," and " Prince of Viana" — these three titles referring to his status as

to the kingdoms of Castile,

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

and

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

respectively. He started using the titles of "Prince of Girona" on his passport during the rule of caudillo Franco, to avoid the more contentious title Prince of Asturias which was well known to be reserved for the heir of the throne of Spain. His father had adopted a similar tactic, styling himself

Juan, Count of Barcelona Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona (Juan Carlos Teresa Silverio Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg; 20 June 1913 – 1 April 1993), also known as Don Juan, was a claimant to the Spanish throne as Juan III. He was the third son and designated heir o ...

; using the title of

King of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

would have been seen as directly subversive of the

Francoist state Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. However, calling himself

Count of Barcelona The Count of Barcelona ( ca, Comte de Barcelona, es, Conde de Barcelona, french: Comte de Barcelone, ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, usages and Catalan constitutions, of ...

was a clear attempt at asserting his hereditary rights to then defunct Spanish throne, as there had been no Count of Barcelona who was not either King of Aragon or of Spain since the Middle Ages. When Juan Carlos was finally given an official capacity in the Spanish state as heir to the kingdom by General Franco, he received the title of "Prince of Spain" and thus began to use this until he became King of Spain. On 21 January 1977 his son, Felipe, would be the first to use all of these titles in any official capacity for over 250 years. With the accession of Felipe to the throne in 2014, his elder daughter Leonor became Princess of Girona, as heiress presumptive to the throne of Aragon. The Princess of Girona Foundation was created in 2009 and is now run on behalf of Princess Leonor: it funds programmes to aid young people.

Holders

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince of Girona Crown of Aragon History of Catalonia

Aragonese Empire The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Ba ...

Origin of the title

Modern usage

Holders

See also

Notes

External links