| Venue: | Almudena Cathedral, Royal Palace of Madrid |
| Location: | Madrid, Spain |
The wedding of Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz was held on 22 May 2004 in the Almudena Cathedral at the Royal Palace of Madrid, Spain. At the time of the wedding, the groom was the heir to the Spanish throne. The bride was a journalist. The wedding was presided over by the archbishop of Madrid, Antonio María Rouco Varela, and was watched by 25 million people in Spain alone.[1]
More than 1200 guests attended the wedding, including 36 royal houses and heads of state, including Prince Albert of Monaco; Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.
The wedding was the first state wedding in Spain for more than 50 years, and the first royal wedding in almost a century.[2] It was also the first wedding to be held in the Almeduna Cathedral, which was consecrated in 1993.
The exact date that the courtship began is unknown. On 1 November 2003, the Royal Household announced Letizia Ortiz's engagement to Felipe, then Prince of Asturias.[3] Felipe had proposed with a 16-carat diamond engagement ring with a white gold trim. She marked the occasion by giving him white gold and sapphire cufflinks and a classic book.[4]
The official hand petition was made on 6 November 2003 at the El Pardo Palace.[5]
On 21 May 2004, a day before the wedding, the royal family held a gala dinner for their guests at the Royal Palace of El Pardo. The Spanish royal family presided at the four main tables. The dinner was attended by 300 guests.
Felipe and Letizia occupied the presidential table, along with Queen Margrethe of Denmark and her husband, Prince Henrik; the King and Queen of Norway, Harald and Sonja; the President of Ireland and her husband, Mary and Martin McAleese, and the president of El Salvador, Francisco Flores Pérez, and his wife, Lourdes Rodríguez.[6]
At the table of King Juan Carlos I were Paloma Rocasolano, the mother of the bride; Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands; the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg, Henri and María Teresa; the president of Panama, Mireya Moscoso; the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his daughter, Aliya and the president of Germany, Johannes Rau, and his wife, Christina.
At the table chaired by Queen Sofia were Jesus Ortiz, the father of the bride; the King and Queen of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia; the King and Queen of the Belgians, Albert and Paola; Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graça Machel, and the president of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, and his wife, María José Ritta.
At the table of the Infanta Elena and her husband Jaime de Marichalar were Erika Ortiz, sister of the bride, and her husband, Antonio Vigo Pérez; the Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adam II; the Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Andrew Bertie, and the President of Ecuador, Lucio Gutiérrez, and his wife, Ximena Bohórquez Romero.
At the table of the Infanta Cristina and her husband Iñaki Urdangarin were Telma Ortiz, sister of the bride; the president of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe; the President of Nicaragua, Enrique Bolaños, and his wife, Lila T. Abaunza, and the Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and his wife, Sonsoles Espinosa.
After the dinner was over, the guests returned to the Room of the Austrias, where a dance was held.[7]
There was no specific time set for the ceremony, although it was expected to be around 11:00 in the morning. It was planned that a wedding procession would accompany the groom to the cathedral, where he would wait for the bride to arrive.
At 10:42, the royal procession left by the Puerta del Rey of the Royal Palace of Madrid. Headed by an officer followed by six halberdiers, it consisted of:
The bride arrived at 11:12 in the morning to the cathedral in a Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, instead of on foot as planned, due to the persistent, intense rain. When King Juan Carlos I entered the cathedral, the anthem of Spain sounded. At 11:49 there was the moment of giving consent. Once the ceremony was over, the bride and groom left the cathedral and toured the streets of Madrid.
After the religious ceremony, the newlyweds took a tour by car, a black Rolls-Royce Phantom IV, through the streets of Madrid escorted by the Motorcycle Section of the Royal Guard. They proceeded from Bailén Street to the Cuesta de San Vicente to reach the Spain Square. They continued along the Gran Vía, passing through the Red de San Luis to Alcalá street, in the direction of Plaza de Cibeles.
The motorized escort was relieved by the escort on horseback of the Royal Escort Squadron, composed of a squadron of batters, a band of bugles and timbales, and a cuirassier section. They continued through the Paseo del Prado to the Emperor Charles V square and took the Barcelona City Avenue to reach the Basilica of Our Lady of Atocha, where they were received by the Mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Monsignor Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, and the Priest of the Basilica, Father José Antonio Álvarez. Once there, the Princess deposited the bridal bouquet before the image of the Virgin of Atocha, a traditional patron of Spanish royalty.
Once finished, the Prince and Princess of Asturias greeted the large audience present, then returned to the Royal Palace by the same route they had used on the outward journey. The couple and their families greeted the large crowd gathered in the Plaza de Oriente from the balcony of the Royal Palace.[8]
After the tour of Madrid, the newlyweds went to the Royal Palace for the bridal banquet. In the banquet, both the King and Prince Felipe gave speeches.
The King's toast expressed to Letizia the enormous happiness and enthusiasm of the entire Royal Family for this event, asked the new spouses to always think of Spain, and to dedicate "with love and devotion, the best of your efforts to the Spaniards, to join their hopes, share their illusions and be able to always fuse with their feelings and difficulties", with the certainty that "you are inspired by the passion to serve this great, diverse and plural country, proud of its coexistence in democracy and freedom."
Prince Felipe replied, expressing his great happiness and saying that "we will always think of Spain and that our whole life will be dedicated to the welfare of the Spaniards." He thanked both families for their constant expressions of affection and generosity. The Prince finished with an emotional tribute to "the absent, those who were not criminally and brutally allowed to continue living their illusions and anxieties, and also those who today can not enjoy with them, free and civically of the Madrid spring that welcomes us and it raises our spirits" (in a clear reference to the victims of 11-M).[8]
The royal menu was designed by Spanish chefs Ferran Adrià and Juan Mari Arzak and consisted of:
The bridal cake was designed by Spanish cakemaker Francisco Torreblanca. The cake consisted of a kind of chocolate serpentine of different floors. Along with the cake, different desserts were served, among which was a new creation that joined the tastes of both the groom and the bride, and was named "Royal Gianduja".
The cost of the wedding was shared between the government (who assumed the majority of the budget for security and public decoration of the streets) and the Royal House (who was in charge of the banquet, the wedding, dresses, invitations, etc.). Some estimates calculate that it cost between €21 million and €40 million (approximately $28–54.5 million at that time).[10] [11]
There were numerous criticisms of RTVE for the high cost of retransmission of the wedding, which according to the corporation was €4.5 million,[12] although former Minister Bono said it cost more than €13 million, something that the Corporation denies.[13]
Letizia wore the empire-style tiara with which Queen Sofia married, in platinum and diamonds. The wedding dress, designed by Manuel Pertegaz, was white, tight around the waist, with long sleeves, a neckline in the shape of a corolla, a wide skirt and a 4.5-meter long train embroidered with heraldic motifs. The bride's gown was woven with Valencia silk and embroidered with silver and gold threads.[14] The nuptial veil was a gift from the Prince to Letizia; with a triangular shape, three meters long by two wide, of natural silk tulle in ivory white with scrolls and hand-embroidered wreaths, which mixed the fleur-de-lis and the spike. The shoes were made by the illicitana designer Pura López.
Felipe wore the Great Tag suit of the Army. The Emblem of the Infantry weapon was embroidered on the neck with golden thread, and in the cuffs were the badges corresponding to his use as Commander. The Prince also wore the Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The Fleece or Vellocino hung from the necklace in enameled gold. He also carried the Grand Cross of the Necklace of the Order of Carlos III and the sky blue sash. Felipe also wore the Great Crosses of Military, Naval and Aeronautical Merit.[15]
The official guest list of the wedding was not made public but, according to the Prince in January 2004, there were between 1200 and 1400 guests.[16]
The first invitations began to be sent in April 2004, consisting of three different letters. One of them signed by the Royals, another by the Chief of the Royal Household and another by the parents of the bride.
All letters were sent in English. The letter signed by the Chief of the Royal Household invited attendees to the religious ceremony at the Cathedral of Almudena on 22 May at 11:00 am. The letter signed by the Royals invites the attendees to the banquet held on the same day at 14:30. The letter signed by the bride's parents was limited to saying that they participate in the wedding.[17]
With the marriage of Felipe and Letizia, she received all the constitutional titles that are recognized to the Prince as heir to the Spanish throne; the couple are known since then as:
Also, Letizia obtained the treatment of Royal Highness.
At 8:00 on the day of the wedding, a Lieutenant Colonel of the Army, escorted by two soldiers of the Royal Guard, deposited a wreath of flowers with the phrase: "Always in our memory, Felipe and Letizia" in the Forest of the Absent (currently Forest of Remembrance), a composition in the center of the Emperor Charles V square with trees and flowers, in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks of 11-M.[18]
Televisión Española produced the live institutional television signal that was distributed to all major networks in Spain, reaching a national record as the most-watched television program ever with 25.1 million viewers.[19] [20] [21] These audience data exceed those reached by the weddings of the Prince's sisters. The wedding of Infanta Cristina was followed by 22.7 million viewers and the wedding of Infanta Elena by 21.4 million viewers.[22]
The live institutional television signal was also distributed abroad, with a potential audience of 1.2–2 billion. Nearly 5,600 media outlets from around the world covered the wedding.[23] [24]