1. Felipe VI was born in Madrid during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco as the third child and only son of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark.
51 Facts About Felipe VI
1. 2.
Felipe VI was officially created Prince of Asturias in 1977, two years after his father became king.
3.
Felipe VI was made honorary soldier of the Spanish Army at the age of 9.
4.
Felipe VI was educated at Santa Maria de los Rosales School and went to Lakefield College School in Canada.
5.
At one of these events with the press, Felipe VI met TV news journalist Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, whom he married in 2004.
6.
Felipe VI ascended the throne on 19 June 2014 upon the abdication of his father.
7.
Felipe VI was born at 12:45 on 30 January 1968, at Our Lady of Loreto Hospital at Madrid, being the third child and only son of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark.
8.
Felipe VI was baptized on 8 February 1968 at the Palace of Zarzuela by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Madrid, Casimiro Morcillo, with water from the Jordan River.
9.
Felipe VI's godparents were his paternal grandfather, the Count of Barcelona, and his paternal great-grandmother, Queen Victoria Eugenie.
10.
In 1981 Felipe VI received the Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece from his father, the Chief and Sovereign of the Order.
11.
On his 18th birthday on 30 January 1986, Felipe VI swore allegiance to the Constitution and to the King in the Spanish Parliament as required by the constitution, fully accepting his role as successor to the Crown.
12.
Felipe VI attended school at Santa Maria de los Rosales, which his daughters both attended.
13.
Felipe VI attended high school at Lakefield College School in Ontario, Canada, and studied at the Autonomous University of Madrid, where he graduated with a degree in law; he completed several courses in economics.
14.
Felipe VI completed his academic studies by obtaining a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where he was the roommate of his cousin, Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece.
15.
Felipe VI was a member of the Spanish Olympic sailing team at the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona.
16.
Felipe VI took part in the opening ceremony as the Spanish team's flag bearer.
17.
Felipe VI is an honorary member of the International Soling Association.
18.
Felipe VI's name was linked with several eligible women, but only two notable girlfriends: Spanish noblewoman Isabel Sartorius, around 1989 to 1991, daughter of the Marquess of Marino, who was viewed unfavorably by the Royal Family due to her mother's cocaine addiction, and Norwegian model Eva Sannum, who modeled underwear.
19.
Felipe VI proposed with a 16-carat diamond engagement ring with a white gold trim and gifted her with a pearl and sapphire necklace.
20.
Felipe VI undertook his constitutional duties as heir to the throne, hosting many official events in Spain and participating in all events of different sectors and aspects of Spanish public life.
21.
Since October 1995, Felipe VI has represented the Crown on a series of official visits to the Spanish regions, starting with Valencia.
22.
Felipe VI has held regular meetings with constitutional bodies and state institutions keeping up-to-date with their activities.
23.
Felipe VI attends meetings of the various bodies of the General State Administration and of the Autonomous Communities Administrations as required by his national and international constitutional obligations.
24.
On occasions when King Juan Carlos I was unable to attend, Felipe VI presided over the annual presentation of dispatches to officers and non-commissioned officers in the Armed Forces as well as participating in military exercises held by the three Armed Services.
25.
Since January 1996, Felipe VI has represented Spain at many Latin American presidents' inauguration ceremonies.
26.
Felipe VI has played an active role in promoting Spain's economic, commercial and cultural interests and the Spanish language abroad.
27.
Felipe VI was appointed a "UN-Eminent Person" by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2001, during its International Year of Volunteers, and continues to make contributions internationally towards enhancing the importance of voluntary work.
28.
Felipe VI is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution due to his patriot ancestor Charles III of Spain.
29.
Felipe VI swore to uphold the Constitution before formally being proclaimed king by Posada.
30.
Felipe VI is the guardian of the Constitution and is responsible for ensuring it is obeyed and followed.
31.
Felipe VI indicated as much in a speech to the Cortes on the day of his enthronement, saying that he would be "a loyal head of state who is ready to listen and understand, warn and advise as well as to defend the public interest at all times".
32.
Felipe VI changed the protocol in order to allow people to take the oath of office without a crucifix or Bible.
33.
In June 2015, Felipe VI stripped his sister, Infanta Cristina, of her royal title of Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, after the tax fraud allegations surrounding her and her husband, Inaki Urdangarin.
34.
The Royal Household implied that Felipe VI already had prior knowledge of the Lucum Foundation and his condition as beneficiary of the latter since April 2019.
35.
On 25 April 2022, in a move towards greater transparency, Felipe VI made public his personal assets for the first time, revealing them to be valued at 2.6 million euros.
36.
Felipe VI warned the referendum could put the economy of the entire north-east region of Spain at risk.
37.
Felipe VI swore in the new coalition cabinet on 13 January 2020.
38.
In 2024 Felipe VI marked his 10th anniversary of his accession and, for this occasion, the king renewed his motto: "Servicio, compromiso y deber".
39.
Felipe VI is a huge fan of sports and has attended hundreds of sports events since 1976, when he accompanied his father to a match between Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid at the 1976 Copa del Generalisimo final.
40.
Felipe VI has never visited an Oceanian country as a king; as prince of Asturias, he visited Australia and New Zealand in 1990.
41.
Felipe VI has attended all the summits since he ascended the throne.
42.
Also, as he did as prince of Asturias, Felipe VI has kept the tradition of attending the inauguration of Latin American leaders.
43.
Felipe VI made it clear that he intended to keep the good relationship between the neighbor countries.
44.
However, King Felipe VI's visit was the first state visit in history.
45.
The next day, King Felipe VI awarded Eusebio Leal with the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, a relevant Cuban historian who already held the grand crosses of the orders of Alfonso X, the Wise and Isabella the Catholic.
46.
Felipe VI has had a good relationship with Mexico, coinciding in his first years of reign with president Enrique Pena Nieto, who favored this relationship.
47.
Felipe VI made a state visit to the North American country in 2015.
48.
In 2024, incoming Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum officially banned Felipe VI from attending her inauguration on 1 October, citing his failure to respond to Lopez Obrador's letter.
49.
At his speech, Felipe VI thanked the Sephardic Jews for preserving their language, Ladino, and for teaching their own children "to love this Spanish homeland".
50.
Later that month, during the 2023 Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony, Felipe VI referred to the ongoing conflict asking for unity to resolve it and recalled that in 1994, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation for their "effort to create conditions of peace in the region" after the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the 1994 Oslo I Accord.
51.
Felipe VI started using the Aragonese title of Prince of Girona publicly on 21 April 1990, during a trip around Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, becoming the first Bourbon to use this title.