SPAIN: After many years of speculation, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe (35) has finally announced his engagement. In keeping with the trend started by the crown princes of Norway, Holland and Belgium, the Prince of Asturias has ignored the dozens of European aristocrats and princesses who have littered his path and chosen a commoner.
After many years of speculation, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe (35) has finally announced his engagement.
In keeping with the trend started by the crown princes of Norway, Holland and Belgium, the Prince of Asturias has ignored the dozens of European aristocrats and princesses who have littered his path and chosen a commoner whose name has never been mentioned in any of the gossip columns.
She is Ms Letizia Ortiz (31), a television journalist from a middle-class family whose grandmother and father are journalists.
Ms Ortiz is a well-known face on Spanish television as the anchorwoman for the main evening news programme and for her coverage of major news stories.
These include the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the Prestige oil tanker disaster off Spain's north-west coast and the invasion of Iraq, during which she was based in Umm Qsar near Basra.
She ended her final news bulletin last Friday with the words: "Until Monday, have a good weekend", and the surprise announcement was made just 24 hours later.
At her formal introduction to the Spanish public yesterday with her future parents-in-law, she said it had been difficult to keep the news secret from her colleagues and admitted she had lied to one friend by saying she was going out "with a diplomat named Juan".
She proved she was not the typical shy bride and gave fair warning that they were equal partners.
When the prince interrupted as she was answering a journalist's question, she quipped: "Let me finish!". And when she praised her fiancé too enthusiastically, he warned her: "I'll remind you of that."
The name of Prince Felipe, who for the occasion wore a light grey morning suit with pencil stripe, has been linked with many young women over the years, some suitable and several distinctly unsuitable.
His two older sisters, Elena and Cristina, are both married with children so the succession is assured, but there was still considerable pressure on the prince to choose a bride.
It is a sign of the new Spain that hardly an eyebrow was raised when it was learned that the bride-to-be is divorced after a brief civil marriage in 1998.
A palace spokesman said: "Such divorces are very common in Spain today." Even the Episcopal Conference has sent a message of congratulations to the royal family.