Catalan nationalists did likewise.

In an open letter, Llamazares said he could not attend as doing so would not be "in line with my ideals" because in ascending to the throne he had sworn allegiance to principles of the former Francisco Franco dictatorship.

owing to his belief that the monarch only acquired "full democratic legitimacy" from 1978 on the promulgation of Spain's post-Franco constitution.

Juan Carlos took the oath and ascended the throne on November 22, 1975, two days after Franco di Llamazares added that his decision to miss the reception did not detract from the positive image his party had of the monarch. He said the king's intervention on February 23, 1981, when he appeared on television in uniform to order troops back to barracks after an attempted coup, had been "decisive for the safeguarding of democracy and the constitution."

The parliamentary spokesman of the ERC pro-independence Catalan Left party, in government in the northern region, said it would also not attend the gathering.

"We will not go," said Joan Tarda, who dubbed the monarchy "an outdated institution" that would disappear one day, swept away by a "tsunami of modernity."

The ERC also said it was time that "the crown starts paying taxes."

The Spanish royals receive an annual allowance that next year will amount to hit eight million euros (9.3 million dollars).

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