Queen Letizia and King Felipe of Spain’s Wedding, 2004
A television journalist married the heir to the Spanish throne in Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral, in pouring rain, in a Manuel Pertegaz gown, ten weeks after the Madrid train bombings.
Madrid had not seen a royal wedding in nearly a hundred years, and the city had been in mourning for ten weeks when Felipe, Prince of Asturias, married Letizia Ortiz on May 22, 2004. The Madrid train bombings of March 11 had shaken the country, and the wedding day included a tribute to its victims. It also rained, heavily and without pause. Yet the wedding of the heir to the throne and a well-known television news anchor, held in the Almudena Cathedral, is remembered for its dignity, and for a wedding dress of great architectural severity.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Date | Saturday, May 22, 2004 |
| Place (ceremony) | Almudena Cathedral, Madrid |
| Reception | Wedding banquet at the Royal Palace of Madrid |
| The dress (designer) | Manuel Pertegaz |
| Guests | More than 1,200 |
| Officiant | Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid |
The couple
Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano was a journalist who had worked for the newspaper ABC and the news agency EFE before becoming a news anchor at CNN+ and then Televisión Española, where she presented the evening Telediario. Their engagement was announced on November 1, 2003.
She had been married before, in a civil ceremony in 1998 to the writer Alonso Guerrero Pérez; they divorced in 1999. Because that marriage had been civil only, the Catholic Church required no annulment, and she was free to marry in church.
The couple have two daughters: Leonor, born on October 31, 2005, now Princess of Asturias and heir to the throne, and Infanta Sofía, born on April 29, 2007. Felipe became King Felipe VI on June 19, 2014, and Letizia Queen of Spain.
The ceremony
The bride had been expected to walk into the cathedral, but because of the persistent rain she arrived by car instead. More than 1,200 guests filled the Almudena, among them representatives of the reigning and non-reigning royal houses of Europe. The nuptial Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela. It was the first royal wedding held in the cathedral.
After the service the couple went to the Basilica of Atocha, where the new Princess laid her bouquet before the image of the Virgin of Atocha. Nearby Atocha station had been one of the targets of the March 11 attacks, and the victims were remembered on the wedding day with a floral wreath at the Bosque de los Ausentes, a memorial grove in Madrid.
The dress
The Spanish couturier Manuel Pertegaz designed the gown, which was made of white silk with long sleeves and a fitted waist. Its most distinctive feature was the neckline, a V opening framed by a collar shaped like the corolla of a flower. The train, 4.5 meters long, was embroidered with heraldic motifs. Her shoes were by Pura López.
The veil, a gift from the groom, was off-white silk tulle, hand-embroidered. It was held by the diamond and platinum tiara, in the Empire style, that Queen Sofía had worn at her own wedding. The result was formal, sculptural and almost stern, a gown that read clearly across a cathedral. For how it compares with other royal gowns, see our guide to royal wedding dresses.
The reception
The wedding banquet was held at the Royal Palace of Madrid, with a menu created by some of Spain’s best-known chefs.
Why it mattered
It was a sign of how quickly European royal families were changing. Within seven years, the future monarchs of Spain, Sweden and Britain married partners from outside the aristocracy, and a divorced journalist became a future queen. The wedding also showed how a public celebration could make room for grief: the tribute to the victims of March 11 was part of the day, not an afterthought. The dress, meanwhile, offers a model for brides who prefer structure to softness. For the full story of the modern royal wedding, see The Great Royal Weddings.
Borrow the idea
Choose one bold detail. Pertegaz concentrated the drama in the collar and the train, and kept the rest of the dress plain. A sculpted neckline, a single dramatic sleeve or an embroidered train can carry a whole dress. Our guide to the wedding dress, decoded explains necklines.
Plan for rain. Have a car ready even if you mean to walk, and umbrellas in a color that suits your photographs. Our emergency kit checklist has the rest.
Remember those who are missing. A candle, a flower on an empty chair or a short moment in the ceremony can honor people who have died, without darkening the day.
Take your flowers to a place that matters. Laying your bouquet at a chapel, a shrine or a memorial, as Letizia did at Atocha and Grace Kelly did in Monaco, is a custom worth borrowing.
Written and edited by the Today’s Weddings editors. How we research and check what we publish is set out in our editorial standards. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
