Queen Letizia of Spain is celebrating her birthday. This Thursday, September 15, the wife of King Felipe VI turns 50 and will spend this day with “intense office work” preparing for upcoming institutional events, including her attendance on Monday with the king at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London.
Although it is unknown how Letizia will celebrate her birthday, it is speculated that she will have a meeting in Zarzuela with her inner circle. The custom in the House of the King of Spain is that these types of events belong to the private sphere of the royal family.
Queen Letizia of Spain birthday: things you didn’t know about her
To celebrate the birthday of the Queen of Spain, here we leave you a compilation of curiosities about the mother of Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia that you probably did not know.
- Queen Letizia was born on September 15, 1972 in Oviedo and her maiden name is Ortiz.
- It is said that Letizia is called this way, with “z” instead of “c”, because the registrar was Italian and wrote the name as it is done in his country.
- When the queen was a child she studied at La Gesta school in Oviedo and attended ballet classes.
- Unlike other queen consorts, Letizia is not the godmother of any prince.
- The queen descends on her paternal grandfather’s side from Ferdinand II, king of León between 1157 and 1188. This was stated by the reserve army lieutenant colonel Javier Cordero in 2009, after researching the family tree of the then princess of Asturias.
- The wife of King Felipe enjoys the so-called “white privilege”. This allows her to wear that color before the Pope, skipping the general protocol that prescribes black clothing.
- She writes her own speeches, which are then reviewed by those responsible for managing the institution.
- Letizia Ortiz was married to writer and professor Alonso Guerrero. The couple married in 1998. He was 10 years older than her.
- The queen is “miraculously alive”, that was what Civil Protection officials told her after she had a car accident, days before the announcement of her engagement to Felipe, in 2003.
- Princess Leonor and Sofia’s mother, before moving to La Zarzuela,
lived in an apartment in Valdebernardo that measured 40 square meters. - She no longer wears the wedding ring from her wedding with Don Felipe. Letizia has explained that, the friction of the jewel, the continuous handshakes of the receptions produced wounds in her hand, reason to stop using it.
- According to Jaime Peñafiel, on October 12, 2003 Felipe VI took Letizia to a dinner with Woody Allen in New York. In 2014, the king and queen even spent a few days in the director’s New York apartment with him and his wife, Soon-Yi.
- The emeritus king did not accept the courtship of his son, the prince and Letizia Ortiz.
- The kings and their daughters drink water in cider glasses, a very Asturian custom that Letizia introduced in the Zarzuela.
- On some occasions the queen has prepared the birthday cake for her daughters’ parties, she likes it without refined sugar and with whole wheat flour.
- The queen is passionate about Iyengar, a form of hatha yoga that stands out for its discipline.
- During her stay at the University of Guadalajara, in Mexico, Letizia worked as a stewardess handing out cigarettes.
- The queen goes to an organic supermarket called Naturasi Moncloa. She also likes to shop at Casa Ruiz, a store that sells vegetables and cereals in bulk, and she buys fruit at the fruit store Vázquez.
- The Queen’s best friend is the journalist, writer and television presenter, Sonsoles Ónega.
- Queen Letizia has undergone several cosmetic touch-ups. Among them a rhinoplasty in 2008 to solve some respiratory problems.
- On Saturdays, she likes to meet up with her lifelong friends and go for walks around Madrid.
- He likes to read in his free time and have breakfast with his family.
- He does not like skiing, regattas or hunting.
- Letizia suffers from chronic metatarsalgia.
- A curious fact, the queen always has mints on hand.
