 This was on the basis that, although he himself cared little or nothing for the title, this had been the repeatedly expressed desire of his father, supported by the depositions of five witnesses.His father allegedly wanted the Dukes of Suárez to have his surname Suárez for many future generations, but Alzheimer's disease had made him both unable to decide the succession himself (as is permitted by Spanish law through "Succession by Assignment"), and also made him unaware that in 2006 the Equity Act for the Succession of Titles of Nobility () had removed male-preference cognatic primogeniture, thereby ensuring that the title would pass to his granddaughter rather than to his son.The failure of the petition was unsurprising given that the Royal family itself had already expressed its support for a constitutional change to eliminate the preference for male rather than female succession to the Spanish throne, a matter which Socialist Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero included in his inaugural speech in 2004.