Former CNN and Bloomberg journalist Letizia Ortiz became Spain’s first commoner queen when her husband, Felipe VI, was sworn in as king.
Felipe, 46, became king after his father, Juan Carlos, abdicated the country’s throne earlier this month.
Ortiz, daughter of a journalist and a nurse and the granddaughter of a taxi driver, dated Felipe in secret before their engagement was announced in November 2003. They met at a dinner organized by a journalist friend.
Ortiz made headlines when the couple announced their engagement and she told Felipe in public to shut up. “Let me finish,” she said, smiling, in front of a throng of cameras.
Letizia and Felipe have two children, Leonor, 8, and Sofia, 7.