A decade after the proclamation of Felipe VI, Princess Leonor has yet to debut her title of Princess of Viana, a historic distinction she inherited along with those of Princess of Asturias and Girona when she became heir to the throne.
Unlike the other two, the title of Viana has not been publicly activated and remains in the background, despite its symbolic weight in the history of the union of the ancient kingdoms that made up Spain.
Leonor Princess of Viana
The lack of institutional presence of this title in Navarre has its origin in a political nuance. Although Leonor legitimately holds the dignity, the Prince of Viana Awards, linked to it, were never adapted to the gender of the current heiress.
But what happened? This is due to the refusal of recent foral governments, little aligned with the monarchy, who prefer to keep them as a cultural recognition detached from the Crown.
From some sectors a solution is quietly proposed: to detach the awards from the political power and place them under the protection of an independent foundation that allows preserving their historical value without ideological interference.
This vacuum is not just a matter of protocol. For historians and Navarrese sympathetic to the monarchy, it is worrying that a figure of such symbolic weight has not yet been fully recognized in his role. Even more so when this title, with more than six centuries of history, embodies the heritage of the kingdom of Navarre and its role in the consolidation of modern Spain.
The title was created in 1423 by Charles III the Noble for his grandson Charles of Viana, a central figure in the conflicts that divided Navarre and Aragon.
That turbulent past has marked the current tensions.