Twenty years is nothing, according to tango, but in a marriage, and even more so in these times, it is a milestone. On May 22, King Felipe and Queen Letizia celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their wedding, a wedding that is remembered for the intensity of the rain that fell on Madrid and the concentration of representatives of royal houses. Two decades later, the journalist and the then Prince of Asturias, now King and Queen, are not only about to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of Felipe VI, they have also certified that they form a team and that, as in the poem by Mario Benedetti, they are “much more than two.”
Felipe and Letizia’s wedding took place five and a half months after the announcement of their engagement and barely a year after starting their relationship. Two decades later, there is still no certainty about the moment in which, for the first time, they looked face to face. But obviously, they both knew each other, Letizia was on TV and Felipe, too. Be that as it may, the then prince, who was 36 years old, had gone through several romantic breakups, the most notable with the Norwegian Eva Sannum, and the Telediario presenter, 31, was divorced after a brief marriage to professor Alonso Guerrero. The prudent man that Felipe was was trapped in the vitality of the journalist, so sure of herself that, falling in love aside, she was classified as the woman who could accompany him on a path that was not exactly easy, as the years have shown. .
Letizia came to the royal family like a breath of new air, although at times she seemed like a hurricane. Being from a middle-class family put her in the crosshairs of those who behaved as if she had stolen their position; She accumulated classist criticism on the one hand and, from the beginning, she was scrutinized, judged and, at times, massacred. We did not know then that within the Zarzuela there were turbulent times and that the family interiorities were going to mark the first years of the marriage.
It was not easy for Letizia to adapt to a situation to which, in the first stage, it was difficult for her to adapt. She wanted to change things and, although at first she didn’t succeed, she managed to ensure that things didn’t change her. The reign of Juan Carlos I began to decline; The Crown, untouchable for years, was beginning to be questioned and there was the couple who symbolized the continuity of the institution fearing that, perhaps, their time would not come.
The prince of Asturias seemed to be going through a minefield and the princess, that strong and determined woman, faltered on some occasions. Letizia had to fulfill the first obligation of every heir’s wife: bring children into the world. The couple had two daughters, Leonor (2005) and Sofía (2007), and the doubt will always remain whether, after two wives, they chose not to try their luck with a third or fourth child, given the possibility that it would be a boy. and a constitutional dilemma would arise. In the succession to the Crown of Spain, the prevalence of men over women still governs, as stated in article 57 of the Magna Carta; They have tried to change it many times but it is still there. If Felipe and Letizia had had a male child, he would have moved ahead of Leonor and Sofía in the order of succession.
Once her task was completed, Princess Letizia began her reign. She polished her style, she embarked on an agenda of her own with her commitment to social causes, but for years she seemed not to be comfortable with the role of princess to her use. They were years in which she starred in some episodes of rebellion from which some came to transcend; She escaped from official confinement and fed species on her solo outings. In her official life she fulfilled what was expected of her but, at the same time, she organized her own world in her private life, applying a fundamental principle for her: hers was a job, not a destiny. With that, already in her time as a princess, she began to separate the public from the private. Firstly, she will accompany Felipe de Borbón in her functions, providing a new air, and in her own case, focus on her husband and her daughters and protect her bubble.
The then Prince ended up admitting that his wife needed some spaces of freedom, but it was not always easy. In the summer of 2013, in Mallorca, there were signs of a possible marital estrangement when Letizia left Marivent, leaving the Prince and his daughters at the summer residence, where at that time they were staying with King Juan Carlos. It was a before and after in the marriage relationship and a crisis with unpredictable consequences was about to arise.
Finally, and perhaps with the knowledge that King Juan Carlos was considering the possibility of abdicating, the couple exercised responsibility and healed their wounds. The princess had wanted to change things and she was about to abandon ship just at the moment when the fundamental change was already in sight.
The ten years as princes was a necessary stage, with all its contradictions, so that in the subsequent decade, as Kings, Felipe and Letizia added more lights than shadows to their marriage. They form a team, she has been able to put her overwhelming personality at the service of the Crown and he, who must attend to so many fronts, has achieved in his wife, an ally of his.
