The
Royal Household of Spain, officially
La Casa de Su Majestad el Rey de España (
The Household of His Majesty the King of Spain), is the constitutional organization which supports the
monarch in the exercise of his royal duties and
prerogatives. The Royal Household does not form part of the
Spanish Government, and remains exclusively under the direction of the monarch. However, the Royal Household coordinates with the Spanish Government and the
Patrimonio Nacional in the planning of official state occasions and ceremonies. The Royal Household is funded through yearly state budgets and subject to the approval of the
Cortes Generales. It has its historical precedent in the
Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain. Nevertheless, when
King Juan Carlos I acceded to the Throne in 1975, he decided to create a Household completely different from the former Court of his grandfather
Alfonso XIII. The modern Royal Household is much simpler than the precedent institution and it was decided not to recreate the majority of Offices which existed in the old Royal Household, maintaining basically the Head of the Royal Household and the Secretary General of the Royal Household. Both these offices are held by professional, senior civil servants, even if they come from the
nobility.