Skip to content
VitrineVitrine
Sign in

Queen Letizia of Spain

Born Oviedo, 15 Sep 1972

5 facts1 source

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 15 Sep 1972

    Born in Oviedo

  2. 2005–2007

    2 children are born

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 2

During her lifetime

She has lived through 6 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Oviedo.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1970s · Queen is born in Oviedo

In the news1950–1970

Tourism industry boom 1950-1970

The annual number of tourists visiting Spain skyrocketed from less than half a million in 1950 to over 20 million by 1970.

What people wore

Sunday ritual of dressing up

The "Sunday of rags" was a weekly ritual where families wore their best clothes to mass and walked in town to simulate a higher social status.

Daily life

Education and Political Control

Schooling was strictly segregated by gender, and girls were primarily trained for domestic roles instead of academic subjects. Catholic religious instruction and the display of regime symbols, such as portraits of Franco, were mandatory in every classroom and home.

In the news1960–1975

Massive labor emigration to Europe 1960-1975

Between 1960 and 1975, approximately three million Spaniards emigrated to European countries like Germany, France, and Switzerland to seek work.

Music

Iconic Hits of the Era

Raffaella Carrà's 1979 song "Hay que venir al sur," which includes lyrics about the pleasures of the body, became a major success in Spain despite being censored in other Spanish-speaking countries. Another iconic hit, "Macarena" by Los del Río, became the best-selling Spanish-language song in history after its 1995 release.

Around the world1973–1974

The oil crisis

Arab oil producers cut supplies and the price of oil quadrupled; petrol queues and inflation followed around the world.

Getting around

Limited daily mail train services

In 1979, the Correo (mail train) on the Ponferrada-Villablino line ran only once daily in each direction, and travellers had to adapt their schedules to the train's limited service. Some routes required walking or using lifts from others to reach railway connections.