King Felipe may change his name 'so as not to annoy Catalunya'

Spanish airspace to close and terrorism alert raised to 'high' as a precaution

It has already been assumed the Prince will become King Felipe VI, but in fact he may decide to add his middle name, Juan, to his title.

This is because the first King Felipe – known as Felipe El Hermoso, or 'the beautiful', was the monarch of the Kingdom of Castilla – the centre and western half of Spain before the Catholic rulers Isabel and Fernando married and united them.

So, although the Prince will be the sixth King Felipe for Castilla, he will only be the fifth for the eastern side of Spain, once the Kingdom of Aragón which also encompassed Catalunya and the upper half of what is now the Comunidad Valenciana.

Royal household sources fear that, as Catalunya is vying for independence from Spain, certain nationalist politicians may be incensed by the King being given the title of Felipe VI – as if to suggest that only the ancient Kingdom of Castilla is 'really Spain', shutting out Catalunya still further and giving it more drive to seek secession.

Dean of Madrid's Complutense University's Faculty of Documentation, Dr José María de Francisco Olmos, says: “With the political situation the way it is at the moment, the Zarzuela Palace might think it is not a good idea to start off a new reign by making certain citizens believe they are sticking their fingers in their eyes.”

But Dr Olmos says it would not make a lot of sense to the rest of the population, given that Spain has been a sole kingdom since the 15^th century and has been split into 17 autonomously-governed regions since King Juan Carlos I was crowned in 1975.

Experts in heraldry, nobility and royalty are divided – some believe it would avoid a lot of hassle if the new Monarch was named King Felipe Juan VI, although others say it would be silly to hark back to old divisions of Spain over 500 years ago and that the Royal family should just 'do the simple thing' by taking Felipe's first name and calling him the sixth king of that title.

In practice, the Prince's full name is Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia.

Most Royals born into the aristocracy in Spain have the name Todos los Santos somewhere in their title, which means 'All Saints' – although on October 31, translates as 'Hallowe'en'.

This is because the Catholic tradition has always been to give children a first or at least second name the same as, or similar to, that of a saint, and since every day of the calendar has one, practically everyone celebrates their 'Saint's Day' or 'Santo', which is similar to another birthday and in the case of children, involves presents.

For the Royals with Todos los Santos in their title, it means every day is their Saint's Day and in theory they should receive presents every day, although they do not.

HRH Felipe's surname, Borbón y Grecia, comes from his father – a member of the long-running aristocratic Bourbon dynasty – and his mother Sofía, who is the daughter of a late king of Greece.

Now that the 'abdication law' has been passed in Parliament, with all amendments relating to a referendum rejected by the majority-voting PP, Prince Felipe's coronation looks set to go ahead as planned on June 19.

The interior ministry will shut Spanish air-space on that day and raise the country's terrorism alert to 'high' as a precaution.

Armed guards and police will be out in force, and after Felipe is crowned, he and his wife – the new Queen Letizia – will parade around the streets of Madrid in a Royal coach in the same way as they, and in fact Prince William and Princess Catherine of England, did on their wedding day following the ceremony.