As the consort of the ruling monarch, Letizia has no constitutional functions of her own and it is constitutionally prohibited to do so, unless she assume the role of
regent.[1] In this sense, the queen performs public commitments representing the
Crown, often with her husband, but she is focused on being the patron, president or member of numerous charities and organizations, and she is the visible face of the
Spanish international cooperation, often traveling around the world supervising and promoting it.[2]
Family
Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano was born on 15 September 1972 at Miñor Sanatorium in
Oviedo, Asturias,[3] the eldest daughter of Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez, a journalist, and his first wife, María de la Paloma Rocasolano Rodríguez, a registered nurse and hospital union representative.[4] She has two younger sisters, Telma (b. 1973) and Érika (1975–2007). Érika committed suicide by an intentional drug overdose while Letizia was pregnant with her second child.[5]
Ortiz's parents divorced in 1999 and her father remarried in
Madrid on 18 March 2004 to fellow journalist Ana Togores.[6][7]
Ortiz's paternal grandparents were José Luis Ortiz Velasco (1923–2005), a commercial employee at
Olivetti,[8] and
María del Carmen "Menchu" Álvarez del Valle (1928–2021), a radio broadcaster in Asturias for over 40 years. Her maternal grandfather was Francisco Julio Rocasolano Camacho (1918–2015), a mechanic and cab driver in Madrid for over 20 years who was of French and
Occitan origin.[9][10][11] Letizia's maternal grandmother, Enriqueta Rodríguez Figueredo (1919–2008) was an
Insulares, a White
Filipina,[12][13] who was from the
Philippines, born to Spanish parents.[14]
British
genealogists have provided evidence that through her mother's Rocasolano lineage, Ortiz descends from Astorg Roquesoulane (died c.1564), and her
coat of arms incorporates the arms of the Rocasolano family.[15] Reports have suggested – and remain unproven – that on her paternal grandfather's side, she is a descendant of an untitled family descended from medieval nobility who served as
constables of Castile.[16]
Education and career
Ortiz attended La Gesta School in Oviedo, before her family moved to
Rivas-Vaciamadrid[17] near
Madrid, where she attended the Ramiro de Maeztu High School.[18] She completed a
bachelor's degree in journalism, at the
Complutense University of Madrid, as well as a master's degree in audiovisual journalism at the Institute for Studies in Audiovisual Journalism.[19]
During her studies, Ortiz worked for the Asturian daily newspaper La Nueva España and later for the newspaper ABC and the national news agency
EFE.[18][19] After completing her master's degree, she travelled to
Guadalajara, Mexico, where she worked at the newspaper Siglo 21 and began work toward a PhD. She did not, however, complete her doctoral thesis because she returned to Spain.[20] After returning to Spain, she worked for the Spanish version of the economic channel
Bloomberg before moving to the news network
CNN+.[19]
In 2000, Ortiz moved to
TVE, where she started working for the news channel
24 Horas. In 2002, she anchored the weekly news report programme Informe Semanal and later the daily morning news programme Telediario Matinal on TVE 1.[18][19] In August 2003, a few months before her engagement to
Felipe, Prince of Asturias, Ortiz was promoted to anchor of the TVE daily evening news programme Telediario 2, the most viewed newscast in Spain.[21]
In 2000, she reported from Washington, D.C., on
the presidential elections. In September 2001, she broadcast live from
Ground Zero following the
9/11 attacks in New York and in 2003, she filed reports from Iraq following the
war.[22] In 2002 she sent several reports from
Galicia in northern Spain following the ecological disaster when the oil tanker Prestige sank.[23]
First marriage
Ortiz married
Alonso Guerrero Pérez (born in 1962), a writer and a high school literature teacher, on 7 August 1998, in a simple
civil ceremony at
Almendralejo, in
Badajoz, after a 10-year courtship.[24] The marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1999.[22]
On 1 November 2003, to the surprise of many, the
Royal Household announced Ortiz's engagement to Prince Felipe.[19] Afterwards, she moved to live in a wing of the
Zarzuela Palace until the day of her wedding.[25] The Prince of Asturias had proposed to her with a 16-
baguette diamond engagement ring with a white gold trim. She marked the occasion by giving him white gold and sapphire cufflinks and a classic book.[26]
The wedding took place on 22 May 2004 in the
Almudena Cathedral in Madrid.[27] It was the first royal wedding in this cathedral. It had been nearly a century since the capital celebrated a royal wedding, as the prince's parents married in Athens and his sisters,
Infanta Elena and
Infanta Cristina, married in
Seville and
Barcelona respectively. Letizia's bridal gown was designed by Spanish fashion designer
Manuel Pertegaz, her bridal shoes by Pura López; and the veil, a gift from Felipe to his bride, was made of off-white silk tulle and hand-embroidered with detailing.[28] As Letizia's previous marriage involved only a civil ceremony, the
Catholic Church does not consider it canonically valid and therefore did not require an
annulment to proceed with a Catholic marriage to the Prince of Asturias.[29]
Princess Letizia immediately joined in the duties of her husband and travelled extensively through Spain representing her father-in-law. They also represented Spain in other countries: she has travelled along with her husband to Jordan, Mexico, Peru, Hungary, the Dominican Republic, Panama, the United States, Serbia, Brazil, Uruguay, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, China, and Portugal. She also greeted international dignitaries, along with other members of the royal family, and attended gatherings of foreign royalty in Luxembourg, for the silver wedding anniversary of
Grand Duke Henri and
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, and in the Netherlands for the 40th birthday of
Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange.[32]
Letizia's solo agenda was announced in 2006, shortly after the announcement of her second pregnancy. Letizia has performed a couple of audiences and her work focuses on social issues such as children's rights, rare diseases, culture, and education. In late 2007, her solo agenda started to grow in the number of events she performed by herself and Felipe's and Letizia's agendas became more distinct and separate.[33]
In September 2010, the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) appointed her as honorary president of the Association and its scientific foundation.[34]
In September 2014, Letizia chaired the Royal Board on Disability, a government agency protected by the Crown whose president is the consort of the reigning monarch.[44] On 25 October 2014, she attended the delivery ceremony of the Prince of Asturias Awards, the last with this name. From 2015 onwards, they were renamed "
Princess of Asturias Awards" with
Leonor, Princess of Asturias as their president.[45] On 27 October 2014, she travelled to
Vienna,
Austria to inaugurate an exhibition about Spanish painter
Diego Velázquez, which marked her first international solo visit.[46] There, she met the Austrian president
Heinz Fischer and his wife,
Margit Fischer.[47] It was not her last solo foreign visit that year, visiting
Portugal in November for the Closing Ceremony of the 2nd Ibero-American Meeting on Rare Diseases[48] and
Italy to attend the Second International Conference on Nutrition, organized by the
United NationsFood and Agriculture Organization, where she delivered the main speech.[49] In her speech, she praised the role of women in the fight against hunger, described as "unacceptable" that more than 850 million people in the world suffer from hunger and demanded that the
food industry balance its "commercial interests" with its "responsibility" to eradicate obesity.[50] In December 2014, she chaired the general meeting of the Spanish Association Against Cancer, an association that she has chaired since 2010[34] and which she continues to do as queen.[51]
During 2015, Letizia continued giving support to social causes related to relevant diseases, attending events and meetings of the Spanish Association Against Cancer, the Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases[52] and the Spanish Red Cross,[53] among others. The King and Queen had planned their first state visit for March 2015, to
France. However, on 24 March 2015 they had to postponed the visit due to the pilot of
Germanwings Flight 9525 deliberately crashing the plane in the
French Alps,[54] killing 150 people, including 51
Spaniards.[55] They resumed the state visit on early June, being welcomed by French president
François Hollande.[56] They also met the prime minister,
Manuel Valls, the president of the French Senate,
Gérard Larcher, the president of the National Assembly,
Claude Bartolone and the mayor of Paris,
Anne Hidalgo.[57][58] On 13 April 2015, Queen Letizia visited the Artillery Academy, which marked her first solo military event.[59][60] A few days later, she travelled with her husband to
Copenhagen,
Denmark, to commemorate the 75th birthday of Queen
Margrethe II.[61] From 25 to 28 of May 2015, Letizia made her first international cooperation visit to
Honduras and
El Salvador.[62]
2016 was a low-key year for the
Royal Family. The electoral process started with the
2015 general election[73] and followed by the
2016 general election[74] made it difficult for the Crown to develop a normal agenda. Letizia began 2016 by receiving different social entities in audience, such as the Roma Secretariat Foundation,[75] the Association of Children's Organizations of Spain,[75] the Association for Specific Language Disorder of Madrid[76] and the Spanish Nutrition Foundation,[77] which informed the queen about their goals, activity and projects.
In March 2016, leaked text messages between Letizia and businessman Javier López Madrid created controversy. Together with other executives and board members of the Caja Madrid and Bankia financial group, Madrid had been accused of corruption. In October 2014, Letizia pledged her support for him, texting "We know who you are and you know who we are. We know each other, like each other, respect each other. To hell with the rest. Kisses yoga mate (miss you!!!)". Felipe also joined in, texting "We do indeed!" The newspaper El Diario later published these texts. A palace official subsequently stated that the King and Queen were no longer friends with López Madrid due to his legal issues.[78][79] Also in March, Letizia made the first of the two international trips she had in 2016. She accompanied King Felipe to
Puerto Rico, in order to chair the 7th International Congress of the Spanish Language[80] On 22 April 2016, the king and queen gave audience to Spanish figure skater
Javier Fernández after winning the
2016 World Championship (his second consecutive title).[81] To finish the year, in late November 2016, the King and Queen made a state visit to
Portugal, where they met Portuguese president
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and prime minister
António Costa, among others.[82] While the king was fulfilling his constitutional obligations before the Portuguese authorities, the queen met with the president of the Portuguese League Against Cancer, Víctor Veloso.[83]
2017 started very like the past year, with Letizia meeting some relevant social organizations that she chaired. In February, both the King and Queen welcomed important foreign leaders at the
Royal Palace of Zarzuela, such as the German president
Joachim Gauck and his wife, Gerhild Radtke,[84] and the Hungarian president
János Áder and his wife, Anita Herczegh.[85] Precisely, in an event with these last guests, the royals learned the initial judicial ruling that declared
Iñaki Urdangarin, the king's brother-in-law, guilty of several corruption crimes.[86] The king's sister,
Infanta Cristina, was cleared of all crimes.[86] To finish the month, Felipe and Letizia welcomed the Argentine president,
Mauricio Macri, and the First Lady,
Juliana Awada, during their state visit to Spain.[87]
On 23 March 2017, she made her first solo trip of the year to
Porto,
Portugal, to attend the 7th Conference on Tobacco or Health. There, she met the Portuguese president, the European Commissioner for Health and Safety,
Vytenis Andriukaitis, the minister of Health of Portugal,
Adalberto Campos Fernandes, and the mayor of Porto,
Rui Moreira.[88] In April 2017, Queen Letizia and King Felipe made a state visit to
Japan.[89] At the end of the year, they travelled to the
Netherlands to celebrate the 50th birthday of
Willem-Alexander.[90] In May, they offered a lunch to Jordanian
Princess Muna Al Hussein[91] and to the Portuguese president. They also celebrated, along with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, the 40th anniversary of the Reina Sofía Foundation and the 10th anniversary of the Alzheimer Centre of the Foundation.[92] In mid-July 2017, the Spanish royals made a state visit to the
United Kingdom, where they met with
Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[93] They also reunited with the Prince and Princess of Wales,
Charles and
Camila.[94]
On 31 October 2018, the queen proudly witnessed the first public address of her eldest daughter, Princess Leonor, who read the first article of the
Spanish Constitution during the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Magna Carta.[95] A year later, on 18 October 2019, Letizia accompanied her daughter Leonor to the delivery of the
Princess of Asturias Awards, the first time for the young princess.[96] The heir to the throne delivered her first speech in public in this event.[97]
In the context of the
COVID-19 pandemic, King Felipe had to isolate himself in quarantine for testing positive for coronavirus in several occasions between 2020 and 2022.[98][99] While he was isolated, the queen replaced him in those events for which she was constitutionally authorized (awards delivery,[100] lunches, inauguration of events,[101] etc.) but not in those activities tightly related to constitutional responsibilities (such as the working meeting with the president of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Željko Komšić, in 2022, which had to be postponed[102]).[103] For the 2020
Rey Jaime I Awards in
Valencia, Queen Letizia presented the award-winners with their gold medals and gave a short speech praising the "talent, effort and generosity" of prize-winners.[104][105] In 2022, it was reported that Letizia was suffering from
Morton's neuroma.[106]
After a one-month delay to avoid interfering with the electoral campaign of the
2023 general election, on 25 July 2023 the King and Queen inaugurated the
Royal Collections Gallery,[107] a new museum sponsored by Patrimonio Nacional, the government agency that guards the
Crown assets. On 17 August 2023, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, together with
Infanta Sofía, accompanied Princess Leonor to the
General Military Academy, to begin three years of military training.[108] Leonor used both her father's and her mother's surnames "Borbón Ortiz".[109] In late August 2023, she travelled with her youngest daughter, Sofía, to
Australia to see the
final of the
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup between
Spain and
England.[110] The Queen delivered the trophy to the World Champions, Spain, and celebrated with them on the pitch.[111][112] Indirectly, this drew criticism to the
British royal family for their absence from the event.[113][114][115]
On 21 May 2004, the day before her marriage to Felipe, Letizia was appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the
Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III.[116] Since then, Letizia has received different appointments and decorations by foreign states and other Spanish honours.
Letizia was styled as "Her Royal Highness The Princess of Asturias" from her marriage to her husband's accession in 2014, and as "Her Majesty The Queen" since.
Arms
The
coat of arms of Queen Letizia was adopted in 2014, based on the design created for her by the Asturian Academy of Heraldry and Genealogy (Academia Asturiana de Heráldica y Genealogía) in May 2004 and approved by
Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent,
Cronista Rey de Armas; this was used by her as Princess of Asturias.[117] The revision of 2014 was confirmed by Don
Alfonso Ceballos-Escalera y Gil, Chronicler of Arms for Castile and León.
The queen consort's crown (
crown's arches differenced as consort)
Escutcheon
Impaled I, quarterly 1st Gules a castle Or, triple-embattled and voided gate and windows, with three towers each triple-turreted, of the field, masoned Sable and ajoure Azure (
Castile); 2nd Argent a lion rampant Purpure crowned Or, langued and armed Gules (
Leon); 3rd Or, four pallets Gules (
Crown of Aragon) and 4th Gules a cross, saltire and orle of chains linked together Or, a centre point Vert Argent (
Navarre); enté en point, with a pomegranate proper seeded Gules, supported, sculpted and leafed in two leaves Vert (
Granada); inescutcheon Azure bordure Gules, three fleurs-de-lys Or (
Bourbon-Anjou); II, quarterly 1st and 3rd Azure, an eight points star Or a bordure chequy Gules and Argent (Ortiz); 2nd and 3rd Or, a rose Gules barbed and seeded Vert (Rocasolano).[118][119]
The Queen's personal Royal Standard is
that of the Spanish monarch (crimson square flag) bordered with the main colours of the arms of her family (blue and yellow) and charged with her personalized coat of arms.[citation needed]
Symbolism
Queen Letizia's personalized
coat of armsimpalesher husband's shield to the dexter (viewer's left) with her family arms -1st and 4th quarters, the arms of her father Jesús Ortiz; 2nd and 3rd quarters, the arms of her maternal grandfather Francisco Rocasolano.[15]
Previous versions
From 2004 to 2014
The coat of arms used as the princess was the whole differenced with a label of three points Azure (used as a difference of the Spanish heir-apparent) and the crown as Spanish heir-apparent, it had four half-arches (with Crown's arches differenced as consort).[118][119]
^"Princess Letizia, Spain". womenfitness.net.
Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2015. Her parents divorced in 1999 and her father remarried ... in Madrid on 18 March 2004 to fellow journalist Ana Togores N, born ca. 1955.
^"Princess Letizia of Spain". by Womenfitness.net 1999-2016. All rights reserved.
Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016. Her maternal grandparents are Francisco Julio Rocasolano Camacho (Madrid, 21 July 1918 –), a mechanic and a cab driver in Madrid for over 20 years, and half-Filipino wife (m. 1950) Enriqueta Rodríguez Figueredo (Oviedo, 2 March 1919 – Madrid, 22 June 2008); by her maternal grandfather she (Letizia) is of French and Occitan origin.
^"A Filipino in the palace?". manilastandardtoday.com.
Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2016. Through her maternal grandmother, Enriqueta Rodriguez Figueredo, is half Filipino. Letizia's Filipino connection is merely geographical. To understand this, we must remember that during colonial times, there was a caste system. Native Filipinos (those of pure Austronesian ancestry) were called indio. The label "Filipino" was reserved for the insulares, or people of pure Spanish descent born in the Philippines....By her maternal grandfather, Francisco Julio Rocasolano Camacho, she is of French and Occitan origin
^
ab(in Spanish)Armas de Doña Letizia, Revista Internacional de Protocolo,
ISSN1135-9692, Number 33, 2004, pp. 64–65
^Kenny, Mary.
"How the younger breed of Royals is moving centre stage". Belfasttelegraph. Belfast Telegraph 9 August 2014.
Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016. ... on her paternal grandfather's side she is a descendant of an untitled family descended from mediaeval nobility who served as Constables of Castile...
^"Letizia vuelve a ejercer de Reina ante la cuarentena de Felipe VI: presidirá los Premios Rey Jaime I". El Español. 26 November 2020.
Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021. La reina Letizia (48 años) presidirá el próximo lunes en Valencia el acto de entrega de los Premios Rey Jaime I 2020 al que iba a acudir con Felipe VI (52), quien se ausentará debido a la cuarentena que mantiene por haber estado en contacto con un positivo por covid-19. (Queen Letizia (48 years old) will preside next Monday in Valencia the ceremony of delivery of the King Jaime I Awards 2020 to which she was going to attend with Felipe VI (52), who will be absent due to the quarantine he maintains for having been in contact with a positive for covid-19.)
^"La Reina destaca el "talento y el esfuerzo" de los Premios Rey Jaime I (The Queen highlights the "talent and effort" of the Rey Jaime I Awards)". El Independente. 30 November 2020.
Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021. La Reina Letizia ha destacado que el «talento, el esfuerzo y la generosidad» de los galardonados en los Premios Rey Jaime I «suponen una muestra de que somos capaces de proyectar una España moderna, solidaria y fuerte» (Queen Letizia stressed that the "talent, effort and generosity" of the winners of the Rey Jaime I Awards "are a sign that we are capable of projecting a modern, supportive and strong Spain")