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Organization and Budget

H.M. The King’s Household is a Constitutional body, the organization and functions of which – in accordance with the provisions of Article 65 of the Constitution – are regulated in detail by Royal Decree 434/1988, of 6 May 1988. This Royal Decree (amended by Royal Decrees 657/1990, 1033/2001, 1183/2006 and 999/2010) states that H.M. The King’s Household “is an Institution that, reporting directly to His Majesty, is called upon to serve and support him in all activities deriving from the exercise of his functions as Head of State”.

It was created to assist the Head of State in fulfilling his Constitutional functions and to ensure his necessary independence with respect to other State bodies. Like other bodies of Constitutional significance (such as the Congress, the Senate, the General Council of the Judiciary and the Constitutional Court), H.M. The King’s Household does not form part of the State Administration.

The Preamble of Royal Decree 999/2010, of 5 August 2010, states:

"Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 65 of the Constitution, which grants H.M. The King the freedom to organize his Household, as well as to manage and implement the financial amount he is assigned yearly from the State Budget, the Household of H.M. The King has been organized and restructured by successive Royal Decrees, in order to apply to its organization and functioning certain principles and criteria of the State Administration, while not forming part of the latter".

According to Royal Decree 431/1988:

• The State Administration bodies shall provide due advice and support to H.M. The King’s Household, thus avoiding – for reasons of economy – the creation of functional bodies parallel to those existing in the State Administration.
• H.M. The King’s Household shall be provided with the following staff: senior management staff; management staff; career civil servants; civil servants of the type referred to in the Transitional Provision of Decree-Law 6/1976, of 16 June 1976; interim civil servants; and non-career personnel.
• The senior management staff, management staff and civil servants of the type referred to in the Transitional Provision of Decree-Law 6/1976, of 16 June 1976, as well as the non-career personnel hired by H.M. The King’s Household, shall be remunerated from the overall budgetary provisions approved by the Spanish Cortes each year for H.M. The King’s Household, and specified in the State Budget. The other career servants and the interim civil servants – all of whom are identified in a list of staff posts included as an Appendix to that of the Ministry of the Presidency – receive their remuneration from this Ministry.
• The remuneration of the Head of H.M. The King’s Household, of the Secretary General, of the Head of the Military Chamber (all of whom are senior management staff) and that of the management staff correspond, respectively, to that assigned in the State Budget to Ministers, Secretaries of State, Under-Secretaries and Directors-General. For this reason, each year H.M. The King’s Household applies the same approach to these remunerations as is stipulated in the State Budget for the salaries of equivalent senior officials within the Administration, whether in the form of a percentage increase, decrease or pay freeze for budgetary reasons, in accordance with the First Additional Provision of Royal Decree 434/1988.
• In accordance with the Second Additional Provision of Royal Decree 434/1988, the regime of incompatible activities for senior management staff and management staff within the Royal Household is that applicable for senior officials within the Administration (as is also the case regarding the obligation to make a declaration of personal assets at the Registry of Senior Officials). In the case of the other civil servants, the regime of incompatible activities applied is that corresponding to the personnel ascribed to the Public Administration.