|
|
|
Prince
Felipe, the Spanish Crown Prince
|
 |
|
Former
television journalist Letizia Ortiz
|
For Madrid, one of the highlights of 2004 will
doubtless be May 22. On that morning, Prince Felipe,
the Spanish Crown Prince, will marry former television
journalist Letizia Ortiz.
The ceremony will be in Madrid's Nuestra Senora
de la Almudena Cathedral, with a reception to follow
for 1,400 guests in the royal palace adjacent to
the church.
From all accounts the wedding will be a grand royal
occasion, with the couple traveling to and from
the church in an open coach, with an escort of the
royal guard in their plumed helmets and colorful
uniforms.
Guests from other European royal families will
rub shoulders with friends of the couple from other
walks of life. Prince Felipe, 36, is a graduate
of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Studies
and some of his American classmates who have remained
friends have been invited. Dona Letizia -- as she
is officially styled -- was a news anchor on Spanish
television when she met the prince, and some of
31-year-old bride's media colleagues are also on
the guest list.
Madrid is experiencing a mild form of wedding fever.
Stores are offering a range of souvenirs of the
event, from plates and bottle openers to copies
of Letizia's engagement ring. Books about Spain's
future queen have been rushed into print, and an
apartment complex has been named after her.
According to the official story, the prince met
Dona Letizia last year when he inspected the oil
spill from the tanker Prestige that had run around
on the Spanish coast. Dona Letizia was there covering
the story. At the time she had been co-anchor on
the late news on the first channel of Spanish National
Television, TVE, for some months, and her face was
as familiar to Spaniards as was the prince's.
Remarkably, their friendship remained a secret
until the official announcement last November. A
month earlier, Letizia had confided to a friend
visiting from her home town that she was "going
out with a guy, and if everything goes well, we
will get married." The friend replied, "If
you get married and I don't hear about it, I wish
you happiness."
Letizia replied, "Don't worry. You'll find
out."
Spaniards welcomed the news that Felipe had chosen
a Spanish commoner to be his wife in preference
to a foreign princess, or a foreign socialite. According
to a recent poll over 77 percent of Spaniards feel
that "Princess Leti" will be an asset
to the monarchy. Both King Juan Carlos and Queen
Sofia seem openly delighted with the prince's choice.
After their first meeting, the queen rushed out
and bought Letizia Ortiz a Hermes handbag. This
was taken as a sign of approval: Hermes handbags
are priced around $1,000.
The story of a future king marrying a news anchor
is a show the reality TV creators never thought
of. It probably seemed too far fetched even in an
age when fantasy has never had a harder time keeping
up with reality. Thirty-something, educated career
women, perhaps like the future princess with one
divorce behind them, are a new phenomenon in Spain.
They are the vanguard of the country's rising meritocracy,
and Letizia Ortiz has boosted their legitimacy.
At their first press conference together, reporters
asked them how many children they planned to have.
The prince replied, "More than two and less
than five." Letizia looked somewhat surprised
and exclaimed, "Anda,!" which roughly
translates as "Go on!"
But for Prince Felipe having a family is a serious
matter. Reigning royal families are notoriously
unsentimental when it comes to producing heirs and
safeguarding the continuity of the royal line. As
the old saying goes, a crown prince's duty is to
produce "an heir and a spare." Still anyone
who has seen the couple together says it is obvious
that romance has blossomed.
King Juan Carlos I came to the throne following
the death of Francisco Franco nearly 29 years ago.
Franco himself had chosen the then young prince
as his heir, thus restoring the monarchy after an
absence of 40 years.
Spaniards will never forget that the tall, affable
monarch played a key role in the peaceful transition
to a democratic system in their country. Juan Carlos
is credited with being a unifying factor when many
foreign observers had anticipated a violent political
struggle in the aftermath of Franco's death.
The king reinforced his popularity in 1981 by preventing
any Spanish generals from joining an attempted coup
led by Civil Guard Col.Antonio Tejero, who was holding
the entire Spanish parliament as hostage. According
to the most widely accepted account of the failed
coup, it was quickly stifled because the expected
support of key army units never materialized.
Compared to their British counterparts (and, incidentally,
distant cousins), the Spanish royal family is low
key and free from too much ceremonial. Felipe studied
law in Madrid before going to Georgetown, and like
his father spent time in the Spanish armed forces.
But his engagement has raised the level of media
interest. To reduce the relentless scrutiny the
couple has made only a few carefully staged public
appearances. One was a visit to the Prado Museum's
landmark exhibition "Manet at the Prado."
Part of the fascination, of course, stems from
the fact that Letizia Ortiz will be the first commoner
to become queen of Spain. The pretty, elegant Spaniard
will also be the first homegrown queen in more than
a century. Her future mother-in-law was a Greek
princess.
Immediately after the engagement announcement, Dona
Letizia,the daughter and granddaughter of journalists,
quit her job and moved into quarters in Zarzuela
Palace where she was being taught the rudiments
of being married to royalty under Queen Sofia's
supervision. She is reportedly studying royal protocol
and history with the same passion that she put into
journalism, questioning her coaches endlessly.
There was mild shock when, during that first news
conference the prince tried to cut in on one of
her replies and she said, "Let me finish, please."
The exchange was so natural as to seem rehearsed,
but here was a real Spanish "guapa," not
at all awed by her situation, and well able to take
care of herself.
And in a sense the reaction was regarded as understandable
in a woman who, after graduating from the Complutense
University, went to Mexico by herself at age 23
to work for a Mexican magazine, and later reported
the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New
York and Washington, and the Iraq war for state
television. Previously she has also worked for Bloomberg,
nancial news service, and for the Spanish service
of CNN.
But because Spaniards give a lot of the credit
for the monarchy's popularity to Queen Sofia, Dona
Letizia also has a hard act to follow. But,as the
newspaper El Pais said recently, she is perfect
casting for the role of queen of Spain's modern
age.
|
