A FORMER journalist and divorcee whose father is a taxi driver will be crowned the Queen of Spain.

Letizia Ortiz – previously a TV news reader – and husband Prince Felipe will take over from abdicating King Juan Carlos.

Prime Minister Rajoy announced the current King’s abdication after 39 years on the throne in a press conference.

The 76-year-old – who came to power in 1975, two days after the death of long-time dictator Francisco Franco – oversaw his country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy, but he has had repeated health problems in recent years.

He has also been mired in a string of Royal scandals over recent years, including claims that his family were involved in corruption and an embarrassing elephant-shooting trip during the middle of Spain’s financial crisis.

Formerly of CNN, Letizia married the Crown Prince Felipe just over ten years ago to a mixed reception from the Spanish public.

To many she represented the ‘modern woman’, but as a divorcee she did not sit well with the more traditionalist Catholics in Spain.

The couple began seeing each other while she was reporting on the Prestige oil spill disaster in Galicia in 2002, but the relationship was kept hidden for many months.

She also covered the World Trade Center terrorism attacks in New York, September 2001.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Do I sense a hint of envy in the title of your article? Trying tohumiliate somebody who is going to be the Queen of Spain is not good journalistic ethics ( you sound like some rubbish British tabloids). The prince must have seen beyond all those attributes that you give Letizia. You wish you had in Britain such a representative for the monarchy as the one in Spain . And she was not just a TV newsreader, she is highly educated more than you can see in some royal families of Europe . Please keep your spitting comments were it belongs and keep higher standards.

  2. Come off it Maria. We are thrilled to see a journalist make it to the top and she is a breath of fresh air for Spain.
    It is only the pompous blue blooded Royalists who raise eyebrows.
    We are simply reporting facts here.

  3. Letizia’s father is not a taxi driver. He is a respected journalist, just like his daughter. He is also founder of a radio network in Asturias.

    Letizia’s maternal grandfather was a taxi driver for many years. A profession in which there is no shame whatsoever. I cannot say the same for your sensationalized, Daily Mail-style so-called journalism.

  4. Does any modern thinker CARE what her background is? In all REAL democratic countries, real government decisions are made by free votes of the Public. That power is NOT based on social Class, aristocratic Title, family Name, “influence”, et al.
    Most existing “Rulers” (even many politicians who never had a responsible job) have come from such backgrounds of a limited number of families and have not proven especially competent… so relegated solely to such “figure head” roles.

  5. Two possible angles:

    1. A woman who has been divorced and is from a working class background is to become the Queen of Spain, a traditionally Catholic country.

    2. Woman in line to become Queen, becomes Queen.

    I know which I find more interesting!

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