A video of Queen Letizia is currently circulating, and many people haven’t seen it. It’s not from an official event or her time on mainstream news. It’s from when she was a young journalist covering the carnivals in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for RTVE.
Colorful shirts, feathers everywhere, and a total party atmosphere. RTVE Canarias’ program ‘Con plumas y a lo loco’ brought back these live connections, and honestly, seeing her so relaxed and dedicated is truly special.
In one broadcast, she appears from Santa Catalina Park, discussing the carnival queen and how it took her three hours to get dressed. You can tell she’s enjoying it. She talks to designers, describes the costumes as “very beautiful, but also elaborate and complex,” and encourages people to experience it firsthand.
The then-journalist, Letizia Ortiz, enthusiastically conveyed the “magic, fantasy, light, and color” she herself mentioned. There was no set script, just a desire to share what I was seeing.
But there was a moment that became almost prophetic. Behind the scenes, Letizia interviews a girl in a costume and asks her what she would like to be. The little girl answers without hesitation that she wants to be the carnival queen when she grows up.
“It’s the dream of many girls here in the Canary Islands,” Letizia said at the time. Neither of them could have imagined that, years later, the journalist holding the microphone would become queen of all Spain.
Watching these videos now feels strange, in a good way. They take us back to a Letizia before everything that followed, when her life was different and her future was unpredictable.
¿Sabían que la Reina Letizia en su etapa como periodista cubrió los carnavales de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria?
Aquí la prueba.#ConPlumasyaloloco 💗 pic.twitter.com/gswEsh7jEo
— RTVECanarias (@RTVECanarias) February 1, 2026