Queen Letizia was once a journalist
Queen Letizia, born Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, was not always a royal. In fact, she came from a middle-class family, the first of three daughters born to a nurse and a journalist.
Like her father, Queen Letizia pursued a career in journalism, getting a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid, followed by a master’s degree audiovisual journalism at the Institute for Studies in Audiovisual Journalism in audiovisual journalism.
Queen Letizia worked for a variety of news outlets including starting in newspapers and moving on to television. She worked for Telediario, Bloomberg, and CNN and covered such events as 9/11 and the 2000 US elections stateside. She covered the war in Iraq for which she won a Madrid Press Association award.
Back in 2002, King Felipe was still Prince of Asturias — a principality of northwest Spain. He and Queen Letizia, who was then Letizia Ortiz, met in Madrid at a dinner party hosted by news anchor Pedro Erquicia.
The two dated in secret for nearly a year before announcing their engagement to an unsuspecting public, as well as many of the members of the royal family. The prince’s father, King Juan Carlos, approved of the marriage despite Ortiz’s previous divorce.
The couple was married in May of 2004 at Catedral de la Almudena in Madrid and Ortiz became Princess of Asturias. The following year they had their first child, Princess Leonor, and then two years later they had Princess Sofia.
The Prince and Princess of Asturias remained as such for 10 years, before becoming king and queen consort in 2014.