For the first time, La Zarzuela puts a woman in charge of Queen Letizia's Secretariat

For the first time, a woman will be in charge of Queen Letizia's Secretariat. María Dolores Ocaña Madrid, State lawyer, will be appointed to carry out this work, replacing General José Zuleta, 63, who had headed that office since 2014, according to La Zarzuela sources. The replacement will take effect on April 30.

In addition, two other additional changes will be carried out in the Royal Household. The Head of the Coordination and Planning Cabinet, which is currently headed by Emilio Tomé de la Vega, 70 years old, will fall to Major General Juan Carlos González Díez. In the coming days, Zarzuela will also take over from Isaías Peral Puebla, 71 years old, until now at the head of the Head of Administration, Infrastructure and Services.

Since 2020, María Dolores Ocaña Madrid was head of the State Attorney's Office in the Ministry of Education and Professional Training, with Minister Pilar Alegría. Between 2018 and 2020, she was undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, led by Luis Planas. As a State lawyer, she worked in Zamora, in the Contentious-Administrative courts of the National Court and in the Government delegation in Madrid.

These appointments, which will become effective once they are published in the Official State Gazette, correspond to Felipe VI. This is a designation contemplated in article 65.2 of the Constitution, whose text states: “The King freely appoints and relieves the civil and military members of his House.”

At the beginning of this year, the King relieved the head of the King's Household and his most direct collaborator, Jaime Alfonsín Alfonso, 67, and appointed Camilo Villarino Marzo, a 59-year-old diplomat, who until now was Chief of Staff of the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. This replacement had been expected for a long time, since Alfonsín had expressed his desire to leave office after three decades in La Zarzuela.

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