FILE/SPAIN: The former Spanish TV presenter, Letizia Ortiz, who wed Spanish heir to the throne Felipe, Prince of Asturias, will become the next Queen of Spain this week

Record ID: 246756

  • Title: FILE/SPAIN: The former Spanish TV presenter, Letizia Ortiz, who wed Spanish heir to the throne Felipe, Prince of Asturias, will become the next Queen of Spain this week
  • Date: 18th June 2014
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PRINCESS LETIZIA AND PRINCE FELIPE PRESENTING THEIR NEW-BORN DAUGHTER SOFIA TO THE MEDIA / SOFIA'S ELDER SISTER LEONOR IN FILIPE'S ARMS
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain, Vatican City State, Netherlands
  • City:
  • Country: Netherlands Spain Vatican City State
  • Topics: Royalty
  • Reuters ID: LVAEKJS34TG7YTC9M4DTOMACAJB8
  • Story Text: The face of Spain's queen-in-waiting, Letizia Ortiz, is well-known to Spaniards who for years saw her every day on television as a reporter and news presenter.
    Ortiz will become Spain's new queen on Thursday (June 17) when her husband, Prince Felipe of Spain is sworn in as new King of Spain following the abdication of his father King Juan Carlos, who reigned for 39 years.
    Ortiz met Prince Felipe while she was covering the Prestige oil tanker disaster along Spain's north west coast in November 2002.
    Their engagement was announced a year later, and she later announced plans to gradually leave her job as a newsreader for the state television channel TVE.
    Born on September 15, 1972, in the northern city of Oviedo, Letizia Ortiz's parents would never have dreamed that she would grow up to become the country's first Spanish-born queen since 1879.
    Princess Letizia had been briefly married to a literature teacher, and news of her engagement to the Crown Prince sparked controversy among conservatives who struggled with the idea of a divorced future queen.
    The wedding of Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia in May 2004 came as Spain reeled from the Madrid train bombings two months earlier.
    The couple now have two daughters, Leonor and Sofia.
    During the first few years of the marriage, Princess Letizia was successful at positioning herself among European royals and gaining a positive reputation for her self-confidence, style and good taste for fashion.

    "She is a woman with a university degree, she comes from a lower middle class family with working parents and grandparents. She and her sisters have had to fend with divorced parents. She had to look for alternative jobs while she was studying so, in that sense, she has a profile that has a lot in common with any European citizen at the moment," said Paloma Barrientos a journalist who covers the royal family for the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial.
    However, Barrientos says Ortiz has struggled to gain the affection of Spaniards, who would often criticise her as distant and cold at public events.

    "Spaniards are not very attracted to their Princess in the sense that, unlike Queen Sofia, she is not highly favoured by polls because of her lack of closeness with people or because of that perception of pride that she gives. But now she has a very long road to show her ability," said Barrientos.
    On the streets of Madrid, some locals spoke fondly of Princess Letizia on the eve of her becoming Queen.

    "She is a very well educated and responsible person and has very good advice from the Queen," said one resident, Angeles.
    Another local, Carlos, was unsure whether Letizia would stay true to her humble roots in future.

    "One can think that before becoming the Queen she could still think as a normal person who gets a salary and has to pay the rent. But what if after becoming queen she decides that she wants to live as a Queen and do the same as other royals which is only live a good life and nothing else?"
    Several Spanish columnists have observed that after the abdication announcement by King Juan Carlos, Princess Letizia acquired an air of solemnity in public appearances and appeared focussed on her new role.
    In the Spanish showbiz world, news reports have concentrated on predicting what kind of dress and tiara she is likely to wear on Thursday (June 17), the day in which she will become Queen Letizia of Spain.
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