is necessary to resort to the royal decree of December 1823 that establishes the "bases on which the new Council of Ministers must walk," and these are: The purpose, then, was to dismantle any trace of the constitutional period of the Liberal Triennium. At the time of its creation, the Council of Ministers was composed of the five ministers —six when the Interior Minister was added— in addition to a secretary who, in the absence of this, it assumed the functions of secretary of the Council the Minister of Grace and Justice. They used to meet once a week; later, it was extended to twice —Tuesdays and Saturdays— although depending on the circumstances, the hours could vary, as happened at the time of the uprising of Jorge Bessières that met daily or when the monarch pleased. Extraordinary meetings and the continual excuses of the ministers not to attend were also common, although the general norm was habitual attendance, as was not the case in other institutions of the monarchy. Likewise, various authorities that were called to issue reports or defend the files that were being processed could go to the Council, generally in the area of the Treasury and international relations. They were described in the minutes as "assistants". The place designed for its meetings and the most usual in its beginnings was the headquarters of the First Secretary of State, although with time it was the headquarters of the Secretariat of the Navy that assumed that role. It was also common that the Council met where the monarch was, as in the Royal Palaces of Aranjuez, San Lorenzo or La Granja. After the death of King Ferdinand VII and during the regency of María Christina, in an attempt to win the support of the Liberals, the Queen Regent appointed Secretary of State to Martinez de la Rosa, who due to the tradition already created, received the title of President of the Council of Ministers with the approval of the Royal Statute and with this title, he has been considered the first real Prime Minister of Spain. It was precisely this statute, which for the first time constitutionalized the body of the Council of Ministers but without specifying their formation and powers. Although the Royal Statute affirmed that the monarch freely appoints and separates the ministers, the parliamentary practice obliged the sovereign to elect the ministers among the members of