MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti) - The new Queen of Spain and former TV presenter Letizia Ortiz has been more popular than her husband Prince Felipe of Spain even before they got married in 2004.
The beautiful love story of the king-in-waiting and the presenter of the most popular news TV program made many headlines, with millions of people following their hours’ long wedding ceremony. Ortiz never looked like a Cinderella instead showing her virile character, and when the couple got married people made jokes that the royal prince turned into “the husband of Letizia Ortiz.”
Many also recall how during the couple’s engagement in 2003 Letizia told Felipe “Let me finish!” when he tried to interrupt her response to journalists.
“She has been really very popular thanks to her TV job. At some point, the Royal family was even concerned that a young and bright wife can put the heir into the shade. Then it was decided to push Letizia into the background – to demonstrate to the public that it was not her who played the key role in the family,” royal watcher Jose Apezarena said.
All the concerns of the Royal family were proven wrong. Once Letizia said yes at the altar, the successful and ambitious journalist turned into an exemplary wife of a future monarch. The critics claim that even the sharp features of her face smoothened over the past decade thanks to numerous plastic surgeries.
The marriage turned out to be extremely successful for the Royal prince. The magazines ran numerous reports of the newly-weds life, soon the couple got two children, Leonor and Sofía.
The popularity of the future king was growing fast and today some 70 percent of the Spaniards want Spain to remain a constitutional monarchy led by Felipe VI rather than see their country turn into a republic headed by elected politicians.
“Letizia opened Felipe's spirit," author Andrew Morton quoted a member of Ortiz's family as saying, in his book about Spain's royal family published in April 2013.
Letizia has become the only member of the Royal family who studied at a public school, travelled on the subway, had to take out a mortgage to buy an apartment in a Madrid suburb.
Letizia was born on September 15, 1972 in a town of Oviedo. At the age of 14 she moved to Madrid with her family.
Many pin hope for changes in the Royal family’s life as Letizia is sworn in. There are expectations that women will play more important role in the society, there will be more young people in power, that a more democratic style of middle class will replace traditionally aristocratic habits of the House of Bourbon. To succeed in all these hopes, analysts say, the Queen will have to get rid of her dependency on public opinion and fear of a blunder. They also stress that the successful experience in journalism will help her in doing so.
