|
|
|
|
|
|
Prince Felipe, Prince of Asturias (Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los
Santos de Borbón y de Grecia; born January 30, 1968), is the third child of
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain. As the Prince of Asturias he is
the heir apparent, meaning he is first in the line of succession to the
Spanish throne.
Felipe was born in Madrid. His birth, after that of his two sisters, the
infantas Elena and Cristina, ensured a male successor to the Spanish Throne.
At birth Felipe was given the titles of Infante of Spain, Prince of Viana,
Duke of Montblanch, Count of Cervera, and Lord of Balaguer.
***
***
His full name is His Royal Highness Prince Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso y de la
Santísima Trinidad y de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia. The symbolic
names given at his christening including the names of the first Bourbon to
reign in Spain; his grandfathers (Juan de Borbón, Count of Barcelona and
Paul of Greece); his great-grandfather King Alfonso XIII of Spain; and All
Saints (Todos los Santos) as is customary among the Bourbons.
His godparents were HRH, the Count of Barcelona, Juan de Borbón, and his
great-grandmother, Queen Victoria Eugenia.
Activities in Spain and Abroad
The Prince of Asturias studied in the Autonoma University of Madrid, earning
a degree in Law. He also completed several course subjects on Economics. He
completed his academic studies by obtaining a Master of Science in Foreign
Service degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at
Georgetown, where he was the roommate of his cousin, Pavlos, Prince of
Greece. Prince Felipe has fulfilled his institutional commitments in his
capacity as Heir to the Crown, chaired many official events in Spain and
participated in key events in different sectors and aspects of Spanish
public life.
Since October 1995, he has made a series of official visits to the Spanish
Autonomous Communities with a view to gaining in-depth knowledge of Spain
and making contact with other Spaniards.
He holds regular meetings with constitutional bodies and the main State
institutions in order to keep in touch with their activities. He also
attends meetings of the various bodies of the Central Administration and of
the Autonomous Communities as required by his national and international
institutional activities.
He grants public and private audiences to a large number of people with a
view to receiving up-to-date information on national and international
affairs. In particular, he holds meetings with people close to his own
generation with outstanding careers in political, economic, cultural and
media circles.
When HM the King is unable to attend, he presides over the annual
presentation of despatches to Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of the
Armed Forces, and participates in military exercises held by the three
Services.
Since January 1996, the Prince of Asturias has represented the Spanish State
at the swearing-in ceremonies for Latin American Presidents.
He has also played a very active role in the promotion of Spain's economic
and commercial interests and of Spanish language and culture in foreign
countries. He frequently presides at economic and trade fairs held by Spain
abroad (Expotecnia, Expoconsumo and Expohabitat) and is especially
interested in promoting the creation of Centres and University Chairs to
disseminate the history and current situation of Spain in the main foreign
universities.
Participation in the Olympics
He was a member of the Olympic sailing team at the Barcelona Games in 1992,
which recalled his mother's position on the Greek sailing team in 1960. He
also took part in the opening ceremony as the Spanish team's standard bearer.
He finished in sixth position in the Soling class and obtained an Olympic
Diploma.
Marriage and Children
On November 1, 2003 his engagement to Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, an award-winning
television journalist formerly of CNN, was announced. The couple married on
the morning of May 22, 2004 in the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid, with
members of several European royal families attending. Ortiz had previously
been married to Alonso Guerrero, a teacher and author; they were divorced in
2002. The wedding was watched by more than 25,000,000 television viewers in
Spain alone, and was broadcast throughout the world. Letizia Ortiz then
gained the title HRH The Princess of Asturias, but is often called Princess
Letizia.
On May 8, 2005, the Spanish Royal House announced that the couple were
expecting their first child in November. Princess Letizia gave birth to a
girl at 2:35 AM on October 31, 2005. The newborn Infanta Leonor of Spain is
the second in the succession to king Juan Carlos after Prince Felipe, and
her birth may lead to a revision of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 to
abolish the precedence of male heirs over their older sisters.
Public protest
After the March 11, 2004 Madrid bombings, the Prince and future Princess of
Asturias, along with the Prince's sisters Elena and Cristina, became the
first members of the Spanish royal family ever to take part in a public
protest.
Social Work
In addition to his official activities, Prince Felipe is Honorary President
of several Associations and Foundations, such as the Codespa Foundation,
which finances specific economic and social development activities in Ibero-America
and other countries, and the Spanish branch of the Association of European
Journalists, which is composed of outstanding communications professionals.
Most noteworthy is the Príncipe de Asturias Foundation, where he presides
annually the Awards ceremony of these highly prestigious Awards, at the
international level, that carry his name.
Within the framework of these institutions which work towards aims of
general interest, he focuses his interest on activities in the fields of
development projects, voluntary work, the environment, universities, the
integration of young people in the workplace and business, relations between
business circles and society and social communication.
On the occasion of the United Nations declaration of 2001 as the
International Year of Volunteers, the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan,
named Prince Felipe an "Eminent Person" so that he could contribute on an
international level towards enhancing the importance of voluntary workers. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
PRINCE FELIPE PICTURES |
|
|
Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/iguazufa/public_html/123celebs.net/p/prince-felipe/prince-felipe-biography.htm on line 174
Warning: include(http://www.123celebs.net/footer.htm) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/iguazufa/public_html/123celebs.net/p/prince-felipe/prince-felipe-biography.htm on line 174
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.123celebs.net/footer.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/iguazufa/public_html/123celebs.net/p/prince-felipe/prince-felipe-biography.htm on line 174
|
