Letizia Ortiz | |||||
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Queen Letizia in 2012
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Queen consort of Spain | |||||
Tenure | 19 June 2014 – present | ||||
Born |
Oviedo, Asturias, Spain |
15 September 1972 ||||
Spouse |
Alonso Guerrero Pérez (m. 1998; div. 1999) Felipe VI of Spain (m. 2004) |
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Issue |
Leonor, Princess of Asturias Infanta Sofía of Spain |
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Father | Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez | ||||
Mother | María Paloma Rocasolano Rodríguez | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||
Signature |
Full name | |
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Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano |
Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano (Spanish pronunciation: [leˈtiθja]; born 15 September 1972) is the Queen of Spain as the wife of King Felipe VI, who ascended on 19 June 2014 on the abdication of his father Juan Carlos I. Before her marriage to Felipe, Letizia was a journalist and news anchor. Letizia and Felipe have two daughters, Leonor, Princess of Asturias, who is now the heir presumptive; and Infanta Sofía.
Letizia was born in Oviedo, Asturias, to a middle-class family. She is 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. She has two younger sisters, Telma (b. 1973) and Érika (1975–2007), whose death was widely reported by press as due to an intentional prescription drug overdose.
Her parents divorced in 1999 and her father remarried on 1 September 2000 in Madrid on 18 March 2004 to fellow journalist Ana Togores, born ca. 1955.
Letizia's paternal grandparents were José Luis Ortiz Velasco (ca. 1923–2005), a commercial employee at Olivetti; and María del Carmen "Menchu" Álvarez del Valle (born in ca. 1928), 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. Letizia's maternal grandmother, Enriqueta Rodriguez Figueredo (1919-2008) was born in the Philippines to Spanish parents.
British genealogists have provided evidence that through her mother's Rocasolano lineage, Letizia descends from Astorg Roquesoulane (died c.1564) and her coat-of-arms incorporates the arms of the Rocasolano family. Reports have suggested – and remain unproven – that on her paternal grandfather's side, Letizia is a descendant of an untitled family descended from medieval nobility who served as Constables of Castile.