Top 10 Facts About the Spanish Royal Family
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The Spanish Royal family, similar to the Danish royal family, has a storied history with a lineage that goes all the way back to the 15th century when Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon married each other forming a unified Spanish kingdom. Most people are more familiar with the history of the Spanish monarchy and are not as familiar with the current members of the Spanish royal family. Check out below for the top 10 facts about the current Spanish royal family.
#10: King Felipe is an Olympian from the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games for sailing
Similar to many other royals around the world, King Felipe is a former Olympian. While Felipe was the crown prince, he competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games as part of the Spanish national sailing team.[1]CBS News – Prince Felipe of Spain Sport: 1992 Sailing In fact, he followed many other people from the Spanish royal family and their Olympic sailing legacy.
For example, Queen Sofia, wife of King Juan Carlos I, was a member of the Greek 1960 Olympics sailing team. In addition, his father, King Juan Carlos, had been part of the Spanish sailing team in the 70s. Lastly, King Felipe’s sister, Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, also competed as part of the Spanish sailing team in the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul, South Korea. At the Barcelona Olympics, he finished is sixth place in the Soling class for sailing. In addition, he was also the Spanish flag bearer at the Olympic opening ceremonies.
#9: King Felipe is Europe’s youngest monarch
King Felipe of Spain is 50 years old, making him Europe’s youngest monarch.[2]EFE – Spain’s Felipe VI, Europe’s youngest monarch, celebrates 50th birthday The only other monarch that is close in age is King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands who is also 50, but was born slightly earlier. Below are several of Europe’s other monarchs for comparison.
- King Philippe of Belgium – 57 years old.
- Queen Margrethe II of Denmark – 77 years old.
- The Sovereign Prince Hans-Adam II of the Principality of Liechtenstein – 73 years old.
- The Grand Duke Henri of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg – 62 years old.
- The sovereign Prince Albert II of the Principality of Monaco – 59 years old.
- King Harald V of the Kingdom of Norway – 80 years old.
- King Carl XVI Gustaf of the Kingdom of Sweden – 71 years old.
- Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – 81 years old.
In fact, when compared to monarchs around the world, King Felipe still ranks as one of the world’s youngest monarchs. The only ones that are younger than him are Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar at 37 years old and Sultan Muhammad V, the ruler of Malaysia, at 48 years old.
#8: King Felipe of Spain is quite smart and academically accomplished in his own rights
King Felipe of Spain is more than just the figurehead representing the Spanish Royal family. In fact, he is very accomplished. In addition to receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Autonomous University of Madrid, he also has a Master’s of Science Degree in Foreign Service from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.[3]Casa Real – Biografía de Su Majestad el Rey King Felipe can also speak Spanish, French, and English fluently.
In addition, he also completed several levels of military training including army military training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, naval training at the Escuela Naval Militar in Pontevedra, and air force training at the Academia General del Aire in Murica.
#7: Franciso Franco chose King Juan Carlos as his successor
Between 1939 and 1975, Franciso Franco ruled Spain. Historians have called this period the Francoist Spain. As part of a military coup, Franco overthrew the socialist secular republic which had been in place since 1931.
Though Franco was a monarchist, he decided to keep all the power for himself. However, before his death, he named Juan Carlos as his successor and the future king of Spain.[4]The Straits Times – Five unusual facts about Spain’s royals Understandably the Spanish people did not really like Juan Carlos at the time. In fact, they even threw fruit at him as he toured around the country after his crowning. However, during his reign, Juan Carlos helped transform Spain to the democracy that it is today.
#6: King Juan Carlos saw his own brother’s death
One of the saddest facts about the Spanish royal family is that when King Juan Carlos was only 18 years old, while visiting Portugal, he saw his own younger brother get killed.[5]BBC – Royal row over Russian bear fate According to Juan Carlos, he had pointed a pistol at his brother and pulled the trigger not knowing that it was loaded. Authorities deemed the incident an accident; however, the they never found out the truth behind the events.
#5: Spain’s former king, Juan Carlos, was not one for political correctness
When thinking about royalty, we normally think of someone who is extremely proper and sophisticated. However, King Juan Carlos completely breaks that mold. In 2007, King Juan Carlos clearly showed that political correctness was a priority for him, especially when disrespected by a foreign dignitary. During the Ibero-American summit, King Juan Carlos asked the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez “Why don’t you shut up?”. He said this because Chavez had described the former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar as a fascist. Hugo Chavez demanded an apology, but King Juan Carlos, refused to give one.
#4: The current Queen of Spain, Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano does not come from royal blood
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is not the only person to come from a middle class family and marry into royalty. In fact, Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano came from a normal middle class Spanish family. In addition, before marrying King Felipe, she held a job journalist for CNN in Spain.[6]Casa Real – Hitos más importantes de Su Alteza Real el Príncipe de Asturias
#3: King Felipe is Spain’s first “constitutional” king
King Felipe is Spain’s first “constitutional” king.[7]BBC – Catalan referendum: Region’s independence ‘in matter of days’ Traditionally, monarchies are hereditary. However, in the Spanish constitution, the people of Spain give the power to King Felipe. This was not always the case though. Previously the Spanish monarchy was hereditary. However, it hadn’t had a hereditary succession since the 1870s. The last uncontested royal succession was over 200 years ago. In addition, Francisco Franco, the country’s previous dictator, had appointed King Felipe’s father, King Juan Carlos.
#2: Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano is the first divorced Spanish Queen
One of the most interesting Spanish royal family facts is that Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano is the first divorced woman in the Spanish royal family.[8]Reuters – Former journalist Letizia Ortiz becomes Spain’s first commoner queen However, her previous marriage was only a civil ceremony and not a religious one. Therefore, according to the Catholic Church, she could annul her marriage. As such, there was no problems with her marrying King Felipe (a Catholic monarch). Historically, this point is very important in Spanish and European history. In fact, countries fought many wars, such as when Henry V of England created the English Church, over this very idea.
#1: The current Queen of Spain gave up her career to become Queen
One of the most interesting Spanish royal family facts is that when Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano took on the full time mantel as Queen of Spain she gave up her news career.
Prior, Rocasolano was on the track to a very promising and successful career in news. Previously, she had worked at the large Spanish news channel 24 Horas. There she was both the weekly news anchor for Informe Semanal and morning news program Telediario Matinal. In addition, right before her engagement, the nightly news program Telediario 2 (the most popular nightly news program in Spain) had promoted her to the anchor position.[9]ecoteuve – Letizia, una reina que prento el Telediario y enseno a utilzar el Euro However, due to her future responsibilities as Queen of Spain, she willingly gave up her news career.
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