Queen Letizia and the Press

[jjkg]

I don't think that Letizia is an intellectual leightweight and she did have a promising career ahead of her, but marrying into a royal family is something else. While most female newsreaders will be exchanged when they get older because of fading looks, marrying a prince and a future as queen will put yourself and your assets on a global map for the rest of your life and guarantee global attention, something that seemed certainly appealing to Letizia.

So in terms of social climing, any woman marrying into a royal family who is not royal herself, eg as Sofia, Letizia is as much 'trepa' as other princesses, imo.

To reduce her to "Newsreader" from an "anchor"/"journalist" is something

Newsreader implies "bimbo", all "t*ts", little "brains", just enough to read a script from teleprompter, a script written by someone else who had actual brains​

Given this, how can a newsreader be sent to cover most significant world events? It defies logic! The whole senior management would have been sacked instantly.

One cannot hide or fake lack of intellect, knowledge, competence etc during the intense scrutiny of highest profile events in the world. Look at example of Sarah Palin in US. Her act fell through pretty quickly and she is pretty much a laughing stock.

When Letizia covered the 2000 US elections fiasco, her audience, her management would have thrown her out instantly if she had failed to grasp the situation, and report on the nuances. Same goes for 9/11 and Iraq war!

Yes she was more in the mold of an anchor-roving reporter than a pure war reporter who live their lives in war zones. And yes, I am sure her looks, and her voice put her in the "anchor" track of journalism rather than pure "war reporter" or print reporter etc.

But intellect, analytical skills etc are the base foundation. Looks and voice are just the icing!

 

[jjkg]

jjkg, agree with you, Alondra and Annie_S that the last criticism that can be levelled at Letizia is that she's an intellectual lightweight. I have read reports on Letizia and Felipe since their marriage in 2004 and almost everyone who has met her has used the phrase 'highly intelligent' to describe her. Besides Spaniards, this comment has also come from the editor of the US version of Time magazine who met them both when they visited the U.S. two years ago. Bill Clinton and Gabriel Garcia Marquez have also come away very impressed.

Finally, reporting from ground zero, Iraq, the US presidential elections are all incredibly important assignments for any news organizations, let alone the premier tv channel for Spain. These are assignments that most reporters would want and to be assigned to them over all others is a clear sign of the quality of her work and her analytical skills in a highly competitive profession.

Besides her intelligence, the other quality that I see in her is her obvious affinity, love and warmth for children, youth, the disadvantaged and disabled. These qualities come through in all the photos that we have of her in such events. It is too bad that there is so little focus on that.

There is also a story about a financial reporter (from NY times or Chicago tribune, I think) where he had gone to meet Letizia expecting to be impressed with her looks and came away impressed by her intellect. Now this is a serious, wonkish reporter from another country who came away brimming with positive impression.

What is really interesting with all things Letizia is when you peel back the layers of anti-Leti narrative in press, is that reality is quite different, be it her intellect, or her relationship with common people on the street, or her relationship with her in-laws etc.

She is no paragon of virtue, but there seems to be a strong anti-Letizia bias from day one. Perhaps she carries an extra burden because she herself came from the journalistic community. But a narrative was established and every event she is at, every outing, every action, somehow or other facts are twisted to fit the narrative. If truth is exposed, there is silence and then back to usual anti-Letizia programming the very next day.



PS: In the past couple of days, there is yet another story making rounds on reporter back-tracking on the negative story he published regarding Letizia's supposed arrogant behavior during Pope Francis's inauguration. Now the reporter is totally impressed with her given that he has had a chance to talk to her. Unfortunately the damage is done

 

[Ferrara]

What is really interesting with all things Letizia is when you peel back the layers of anti-Leti narrative in press, is that reality is quite different, be it her intellect, or her relationship with common people on the street, or her relationship with her in-laws etc.

She is no paragon of virtue, but there seems to be a strong anti-Letizia bias from day one. Perhaps she carries an extra burden because she herself came from the journalistic community. But a narrative was established and every event she is at, every outing, every action, somehow or other facts are twisted to fit the narrative. If truth is exposed, there is silence and then back to usual anti-Letizia programming the very next day.

Yes, exactly especially when there are so many utterly credible sources that point to and corroborate all the positive facets of her character. Like you, I don't think that she's a paragon of virtue either but neither is she the caricature that is often painted of her.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I didn't mean different sects within Christianity would be a problem in Spain, i meant that marriage for Catholics is soluble only by death or annulment [neither of whch applied to the princess' first marriage].

I accept that both Mary and Catherine would never have been accepted in your country [if you say it is so], but i'm bound to say 'being nobodies' and 'unintellectual' has hardly held back either women, both of whom are wildly popular and are an adornment to the dynasties into which they have married.

I had hoped Spain had rather more advanced, less xenophobic and intellectually/socially snobbish attitudes in the 21st century !

I find it very sad that such antiquated ideas still prevail there.

The only type of marriage that the Roman Catholic Church considers indissoluble is a valid, sacramental marriage between two baptized persons.

Letizia Ortiz did not have a sacramental marriage before she married Felipe. She had only a civil ceremony, which meant that in the eyes of the Church she was never married at all, so no annulment of her first marriage was necessary.

It's not a matter of the Church modernizing or "getting with the times". If Letizia had been married in Church to her first husband, she would not have been able to marry Felipe and become Princess of Asturias.

Sometimes even Catholics seem ignorant on this matter which always shocks me.

 

[donnaK]

I for one think that Crown Princess Letizia belongs to intellectual lightweights as well. She was not a doctor or an engineer or a scientist. Her profession was not critically important to the public at large. Furthermore, any lady benefits from marring into a royal family.

Only doctors, engineers or scientists can be considered intellectual heavyweights, how about people who are excellent at literature, social studies (such as journalists) are intellectual lightweights ? That's pretty narrow minded. Letizia excelled at her profession before she married Felipe, that's all it matters. Yes she is very different from Kate who had let her decent 'Art of history' degree wasted all those years.

 

[Lenora]

Only doctors, engineers or scientists can be considered intellectual heavyweights, how about people who are excellent at literature, social studies (such as journalists) are intellectual lightweights ? That's pretty narrow minded. Letizia excelled at her profession before she married Felipe, that's all it matters. Yes she is very different from Kate who had let her decent 'Art of history' degree wasted all those years.

I agree, but we could not say about Kate that " she is intellectual nobody" in comparison with Letizia. That sounds improper and rather rude.

Yes, Letizia excelled at her profession and she didn't waste her degree and that's excellent. But if even Letizia hadn't worked and wasted her degree, we couldn't call her " nobody" because she completed her studies anyway.

 

[Al_bina]

Only doctors, engineers or scientists can be considered intellectual heavyweights, how about people who are excellent at literature, social studies (such as journalists) are intellectual lightweights ? That's pretty narrow minded. Letizia excelled at her profession before she married Felipe, that's all it matters. Yes she is very different from Kate who had let her decent 'Art of history' degree wasted all those years.

One may say that my personal views on some matters are narrow-minded. As I have already pointed, other Queens, Crown Princesses, and Princesses speak more than 2 languages, completed their Masters and Doctorate degrees, and worked prior to being married. So Crown Princess Letizia and her accomplishments are not special in this respect.

Her rabid fans tend to denigrate other royal ladies to emphasise her accomplishments. Such style of the discussion is off-putting.

 

[LadyFinn]

I have thought that this thread is about Letizia and the Press and not about Letizia and the other princesses.

 

[ANNIE_S]

Her rabid fans tend to denigrate other royal ladies to emphasise her accomplishments. Such style of the discussion is off-putting.

Some people tend to denigrate Letizia systematically, and that´s not much more elegant

And by the way, I can grant that Masako, Kiko, Mathilde and others like for ex. Maxima have a more impressive CV than Letizia, but that doesn´t implies she´s at Mary or Kate´s level, because IMO (and I think I´m quite objective here, btw) she exceeded at her own field much more than the other two at theirs.

 

[donnaK]

Al_bina, nobody here called Masako/Kiko/Mathilde an intellectual lightweights, you were the one calling Letizia an intellectual lightweight, who obviously isn't true. In Spain, only those top students in their subjects could get EFE internship scholarships as Letizia used to get.
I have always been impressed by Mathilde's dedication to her own career instead of waiting for her prince to propose.

I don't think Maxima had a more impressive CV than Letizia. She had an OK/good job for someone with an economics degree in US. She was from a well connected family, after she got her degree, her family helped her finding a HSBC job in New York, everything came so easy for her, but still it doesn't mean she was an intellectual lightweight.

 

[Al_bina]

Veering off the topic last time.

I comparatively spoke about Crown Princess Letizia and replied to Alondra's post. Comparatively speaking, Crown Princess Letizia is as usual as many of her royal colleagues.

Based on this thread, I assume that there is very little required to be hailed as an intellectual heavyweight in Spain.

 

[jjkg]

I comparatively spoke about Crown Princess Letizia and replied to Alondra's post. Comparatively speaking, Crown Princess Letizia is as usual as many of her royal colleagues.

Based on this thread, I assume that there is very little required to be hailed as an intellectual heavyweight in Spain.

I think the problem may be how opinions are expressed, especially in case of Letizia.

Inspite of all the discussion, the data presented to substantiate the claim that Letizia is well regarded for her brains, we have the above sentence, and I quote again for emphasis "I assume that there is very little required to be hailed as an intellectual heavyweight in Spain"

With all due respect, there are few other ways to read it other than an insult, a passive aggressive slap on a country, its people, its intelligence, international folks who have expressed a contrary opinion.

It is not enough to acknowledge that many folks have a contrary view. They have to be denigrated too.


This comment is along the same lines as Letizia being a "news-reader" inspite of all the evidence to the contrary.

And tragedy is that this issue is more cut-and-dry and easy to get facts than the more bias prone reading of how she behaves with her girls and how they react to public outings.

 

[jjkg]

I comparatively spoke about Crown Princess Letizia and replied to Alondra's post. Comparatively speaking, Crown Princess Letizia is as usual as many of her royal colleagues.

Based on this thread, I assume that there is very little required to be hailed as an intellectual heavyweight in Spain.

There have been may facts brought to the table to argue that she is heavy-weight in brains department.

As you have a very strong, unshakeable view to the contrary, perhaps you could give examples where Letizia has been shown to be a light-weight.

1. Perhaps you have inside details on how she screwed up the coverage of 9/11, the Bush vs gore fight, Iraq war etc.
2. Perhaps there are Spainish intellectuals who have met her and have come away extremely disappointed
3. Perhaps one of the many top of the world intellectuals who get awarded the Prince of Asturias award have reflected negatively etc

 

[chuchu]

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Based on this thread, I assume that there is very little required to be hailed as an intellectual heavyweight in Spain.[/FONT]

Your statement is rather insulting to the Spanish people.

 

[donnaK]

I comparatively spoke about Crown Princess Letizia and replied to Alondra's post. Comparatively speaking, Crown Princess Letizia is as usual as many of her royal colleagues.

Based on this thread, I assume that there is very little required to be hailed as an intellectual heavyweight in Spain.

That's quite an insult to Spain. I only saw your reply to Alondra's post by calling Letizia intellectual lightweight, then brought up some royal women Alondra didn't even mention in his previous post, neither did he call those women intellectual lightweights.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I am always hearing that Letizia was a "brilliant" journalist and I don't quite understand. I think "accomplished" is a better way to describe her. But maybe it's a cultural thing, because here in the U.S, especially in the major cities such as NYC and L.A., female journalists with degrees who are tops in their profession are a dime a dozen, therefore Letizia Ortiz never struck me as all that special/unique.

This is not to denigrate Letizia's achievements at all. She is obviously a bright and ambitious woman, and stunningly beautiful. But I never think of her in quite the same league as Queen Maxima, able to discuss complex issues such as economics and the environment with world leaders in four different languages, or with the truly gifted CP Masako of Japan.

 

[Alondra]

Ok, Letizia may be doing great job as a princess.

But how do you personally know that Mary and Kate are absolute intellectual nobodies? As far as I know Kate pursued high studies in History of Art, and Mary seems to have a good general culture.

I could say Letizia is average ( besides beauty) but I can't call her " nobody" unless I have opportunity to talk to her or listen to somebody's discussion with her.

Kate comes from a money privileged background. She attended a very exclusive school and her education should have propelled her into a professional great job. It didn't.

Mary is a lovely woman but no one knew her professional credentials before marriage. There is a video from couple of years ago showing her confused about writing her own name in public .....she is certainly not an intellectual heavy weight.

 

[donnaK]

I am always hearing that Letizia was a "brilliant" journalist and I don't quite understand. I think "accomplished" is a better way to describe her. But maybe it's a cultural thing, because here in the U.S, especially in the major cities such as NYC and L.A., female journalists with degrees who are tops in their profession are a dime a dozen, therefore Letizia Ortiz never struck me as all that special/unique.

This is not to denigrate Letizia's achievements at all. She is obviously a bright and ambitious woman, and stunningly beautiful. But I never think of her in quite the same league as Queen Maxima, able to discuss complex issues such as economics and the environment with world leaders in four different languages, or with the truly gifted CP Masako of Japan.

I think it's extremely hard to make it to the news anchors in any major TV station since there are so few positions available. My friend's sister has been trying very hard for many years, only be able to host a minor news program, already being considered a huge achievement, the other friend's brother didn't make it in CNN despite trying for a few years, both with excellent academic background. Finally he went for a MBA, easily became a company's PR director. On the other hand, a normal investment banking job at a bank is a dime a dozen, same as engineers.

Due to her journalist background, Letizia has always been able to discuss various issues with anyone. Sure she doesn't have an international role as Maxima, that's more of a royal house policy, Masako doesn't have a visible international role either.

I don't doubt Maxima's intelligence and ability, but she is also very lucky. In Netherlands, Queen Beatrice had wanted to retire a while ago, thus WA and Maxima had always been promoted since day one. WA and Maxima have their own money from the State, have their own household to persuade their own interests rather freely. In Spain, JC and Sofia have always been clinging to the throne, wouldn't share much, until now, Sofia has been hogging almost every single foreign trip, JC is the boss in every way since he holds the budget of the whole house and is allowed to do whatever he wants by law. He is very self centered and egocentric. I don't blame Letizia at all if she wishes JC to abdicate as soon as possible.

 

[Alondra]

I am always hearing that Letizia was a "brilliant" journalist and I don't quite understand. I think "accomplished" is a better way to describe her. But maybe it's a cultural thing, because here in the U.S, especially in the major cities such as NYC and L.A., female journalists with degrees who are tops in their profession are a dime a dozen, therefore Letizia Ortiz never struck me as all that special/unique.

This is not to denigrate Letizia's achievements at all. She is obviously a bright and ambitious woman, and stunningly beautiful. But I never think of her in quite the same league as Queen Maxima, able to discuss complex issues such as economics and the environment with world leaders in four different languages, or with the truly gifted CP Masako of Japan.

Here we go again. Why on earth posters keep putting down Letizia's achievements by COMPARING her with their own favourite royals?

Look, Maxima is brilliant. She has a superb intellect and education credentials behind her. She also belongs to Netherlands Royal House with a Queen Beatrix knowing when to step down

Maxima was allowed to shine ........Juan Carlos will not allow Letizia to do the same.. Again, we can't compare royal houses and different political/socio-economic situations.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Alondra, you seem sensitive to any criticism of Letizia. If you had read my post carefully you would have seen me praise her intelligence, beauty and ambition. I did not put her down by stating my opinion that I do not find her as unique or special as her fans do.

I simply find Maxima, Masako, and several others much more intellectually and professionally impressive than Letizia.

Sorry if you are upset.

 

[marfre]

Kate comes from a money privileged background. She attended a very exclusive school and her education should have propelled her into a professional great job. It didn't.

Mary is a lovely woman but no one knew her professional credentials before marriage. There is a video from couple of years ago showing her confused about writing her own name in public .....she is certainly not an intellectual heavy weight.

Please post a link to the video because this I would love to see and how to you came to this conclusion.

 

[marfre]

Here we go again. Why on earth posters keep putting down Letizia's achievements by COMPARING her with their own favourite royals?

Look, Maxima is brilliant. She has a superb intellect and education credentials behind her. She also belongs to Netherlands Royal House with a Queen Beatrix knowing when to step down

Maxima was allowed to shine ........Juan Carlos will not allow Letizia to do the same.. Again, we can't compare royal houses and different political/socio-economic situations.

My bolding

Are you not doing the same putting others down?

 

[Alondra]

Alondra, you seem sensitive to any criticism of Letizia. If you had read my post carefully you would have seen me praise her intelligence, beauty and ambition. I did not "put" her down by stating my opinion that I do not find her as unique or special as her fans do.

I simply find Maxima, Masako, and several others much more intellectually and professionally impressive than Letizia.
Sorry if you are upset.

I'm not upset, but sure I get sensitive about Letizia. She is going to be my future Queen and I enjoy who she is and has achieved on HER own.

You seem wanting to prove a point against Letizia saying...."I simply find Maxima, Masako, and several others much more intellectually and professionally impressive than Letizia."

Whatever

 

[Alondra]

My bolding

Are you not doing the same putting others down?

I never engage in gossip by putting down royals depending who I like. I love the monarchy in my country and abhor how some posters keep denigrating the relationship between Leonor, Sofia and Letizia in a very a obvious passive/aggressive way. ie (I like you but.....)

 

[donnaK]

I'm not upset, but sure I get sensitive about Letizia. She is going to be my future Queen and I enjoy who she is and has achieved on HER own.

You seem wanting to prove a point against Letizia saying...."I simply find Maxima, Masako, and several others much more intellectually and professionally impressive than Letizia."

Whatever

Exactly. Like I said before, Maxima had a good job (although a dime a dozen good job unlike a news anchor in a major network) in New York thanks to her family connection.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

I am always hearing that Letizia was a "brilliant" journalist and I don't quite understand. I think "accomplished" is a better way to describe her. But maybe it's a cultural thing, because here in the U.S, especially in the major cities such as NYC and L.A., female journalists with degrees who are tops in their profession are a dime a dozen, therefore Letizia Ortiz never struck me as all that special/unique.

This is not to denigrate Letizia's achievements at all. She is obviously a bright and ambitious woman, and stunningly beautiful. But I never think of her in quite the same league as Queen Maxima, able to discuss complex issues such as economics and the environment with world leaders in four different languages, or with the truly gifted CP Masako of Japan.

I agree with this assessment. Before meeting Felipe, Letizia was a very gifted journalist who would have stepped the ladder even further without engagement & marriage.

I don't see that she was 'on top of her profession' though. At the time of the engagement, Letizia was co-anchoring the TVE evening news, together with her boss, Alfredo Urdaci. In this role, she had been for approx. 6 weeks. I have no doubt that she was qualified for this role, but at the time there were many rumours in Spain that Felipe had a hand in Letizia getting this job at exactly that time in order to make her face known in Spain. Most Spaniards had never seen her face or didnt know who she was when the relationship became public knowledge.

If people think that not ageeing that Letizia Ortiz was kind of a Spanish Christiane Amanpour at the time means putting her down of course they are free to do so.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I'm not upset, but sure I get sensitive about Letizia. She is going to be my future Queen and I enjoy who she is and has achieved on HER own.

You seem wanting to prove a point against Letizia saying...."I simply find Maxima, Masako, and several others much more intellectually and professionally impressive than Letizia."

Whatever

Prove a point against Letizia"?? How about express an opinion in a very clear manner, and explain why I hold stated opinion while at the same time agreeing that your CP IS intelligent and accomplished?

Or is only honor and praise allowed?

Whatever, indeed.

 

[donnaK]

I agree with this assessment. Before meeting Felipe, Letizia was a very gifted journalist who would have stepped the ladder even further without engagement & marriage.

I don't see that she was 'on top of her profession' though. At the time of the engagement, Letizia was co-anchoring the TVE evening news, together with her boss, Alfredo Urdaci. In this role, she had been for approx. 6 weeks. I have no doubt that she was qualified for this role, but at the time there were many rumours in Spain that Felipe had a hand in Letizia getting this job at exactly that time in order to make her face known in Spain. Most Spaniards had never seen her face or didnt know who she was when the relationship became public knowledge.

If people think that not ageeing that Letizia Ortiz was kind of a Spanish Christiane Amanpour at the time means putting her down of course they are free to do so.

She had been on TVE news all the time from morning news to afternoon news before the evening news, even foreigners who watched news knew her face, that's how Felipe saw her too. Of course there were plenty who probably never watched the news or some just tried to undermine her with rumors/lies.

Nobody here had called Letizia Christiane Amanpour in Spain. She was only 31 when she got engaged, her journalist career just started to take off. But Letizia was named 'best journalist under 30 in 2001" by AP (when Felipe was dating another woman), there is no doubt she was one of the best in her generation and she didn't get the help from Felipe.

There were certainly some comments trying to put down Letizia, such as 'Letizia was an intellectual lightweight', 'a news anchor was a dime a dozen' (sure, normal bank employees in NY (ex. Maxima) or engineers in Silicon Valley were stars LOL), "I simply find Maxima, Masako, and several others much more intellectually and professionally impressive than Letizia" (Duke, I know those were not your comments) and etc. Masako did have more impressive academic record attending Harvard/Oxford, but Maxima and some others much more intellectually than Letizia, how so ? If those comment were not trying to put down Letizia (by calling her intellectual lightweight, what else can be ?

 

[Alondra]

Prove a point against Letizia"?? How about express an opinion in a very clear manner, and explain why I hold stated opinion while at the same time agreeing that your CP IS intelligent and accomplished?

Or is only honor and praise allowed?

Whatever, indeed.

Huh? Not following what you mean by honour and praise? Are we in the same XXI century?

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Good grief. This is starting to feel like the Inquisition.

Letizia is the most amazing, most brilliant, most accomplished of all the CP's who ever lived. No one is more impressive. Her marriage is perfect. Her children are perfect. Her hair is perfect. So are her feet.

Is that better?

You folks should warn non Leti worshipping posters that this is a FAN CLUB and dissent is not allowed. It's only fair.

Good night!