Queen Letizia Poses for Annie Leibovitz in Jaw-Dropping New Photo That Could Be a Movie Poster
The official portraits — which also feature her husband, King Felipe — were taken earlier this year to mark the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary
King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain have released stunning official portraits shot by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz to mark a special occasion.
In May, the couple celebrated 20 years of marriage, and Leibovitz — no stranger to a royal portrait — was asked by the royals to capture the milestone at the Royal Palace in Madrid. Letizia, 52, wows in a black strapless gown by Spanish courtier Cristóbal Balenciaga, according to Hello!.
Queen Letizia accessorized her outfit with a red satin shawl draped around her arms and wore Queen Ena’s Diamond Riviere necklace and diamond drop earrings to add to the shot’s glamour.
Felipe, 56, wore a military uniform inside Gasparini Hall, located in the Royal Palace. The images were released to the public on Tuesday, Nov. 26, though they were taken by Leibovitz in February, and “the two portraits make a diptych so that they match perfectly when hung together,” Hello! reported.
The release of the official portraits comes roughly six months after Felipe and Letizia celebrated two decades of marriage on May 22. The former Prince Felipe wed Letizia Ortiz — a former television news anchor — at Almudena Cathedral, with the bride wearing a high-necked silk dress by Spanish designer Manuel Pertegaz. It was Spain’s first state wedding in more than 50 years, and Spain’s first royal wedding in almost a century. It was also the first wedding to be held in the Almudena Cathedral, which was consecrated 11 years prior in 1993. Since their wedding, the two have welcomed daughters Princess Leonor, 19, and Infanta Sofia, 17.
In addition to their milestone wedding anniversary, 2024 also marked the tenth anniversary of King Felipe’s reign after he took the throne in June 2014 following his father King Juan Carlos I’s abdication.
Felipe and Letizia’s last royal portraits were taken in 2020 by Estela de Castro inside the Royal Palace of Madrid, The Daily Mail reported. In those photos, Letizia wore a hot pink Carolina Herrera gown with silver embroidery and accessorized the look with the Tiara de las Flores de Lis, made of platinum and diamonds. She added diamond-encrusted Cartier bracelets, diamond round drop earrings and the sash and plaque of the Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Carlos III to complete the look.
A milestone year though it is, it hasn’t been a year without difficulties for the Spanish royals, who were pelted with mud while visiting Valencia, Spain following devastating floods there on Nov. 3. More than 200 people are reported to have died in the floods.
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King Felipe and Queen Letizia are certainly not the first royals to be photographed by the talented Leibovitz, who became the first American to take an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth in 2007. The photos —taken to celebrate the Queen’s state visit to the U.S. that year — were followed up in 2016 with shots of the Queen to mark her 90th birthday. In the photos, the Queen was photographed with five of her great-grandchildren and her two youngest grandchildren for one of the sittings, with Princess Charlotte (the daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton) sitting on her lap and Mia Tindall (one of the daughters of Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall) proudly holding her great-grandmother’s famous black handbag.