May 13, 2004. Copyright, 2004, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Spain prepares to welcome its new princess
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, May 13, Graphic News:  When Prince Felipe de Borbon y Grecia marries former journalist Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano in MadridÕs Almudena Cathedral on May 22, it will mark not only the peak of royal fever in a country fiercely proud of its republican past, but also a new era for the popular monarchy.

Ever since their engagment was formally announced in November 2003, Spain has been abuzz with excitement over the heir to the throneÕs romance with Ortiz, a former reporter with state-run TVE television Ð not to mention enthusiasm for the 31-year-old commoner.

Born in Oviedo in 1972, Ortiz studied communications at Madrid University before spending time in Mexico and then adding several big assignments to her portfolio: in September 2001 she broadcast live from Ground Zero for Spanish television. A year later she filed reports from the scene of the sinking of the Prestige oil tanker in northern Galicia.

Even her brief marriage to teacher Alonso Guerrero, in 1998, has not raised too many eyebrows in Roman Catholic Spain: the couple wed in a registry office. And, although the future Princess of Asturias has now read the news for the last time, her background appears to set the seal on FelipeÕs image as a modern, accessible royal ready to break with tradition.

Happily for Ortiz, a national debate about whether the prince should marry a commoner had already taken place by the time the couple met in 2002. Former girlfriends of the prince, who once said: Òthe princess market is very limitedÓ, include Norwegian model Eva Sannum and American student Giselle Howard, as well as German royal Caroline de Waldburg.
  
Felipe, 36, who has served in all three branches of the armed forces, has degrees in law and international relations, and competed in the national sailing team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He is considered a serious, thoughtful type who does not take his familyÕs present popularity for granted. His fiancee, he has said, will help to forge Òanother link in the chain of dynastyÓ.
/ENDS