Spain’s King Felipe VI was “devastated and ruined” after his wife, Queen Letizia, allegedly cheated on him with a former lover who was the queen’s brother-in-law, a new book says.
In “The Silence of Queen Letizia,” which hit local store shelves on Tuesday, Spanish journalist Jaime Peñafiel claims that the 51-year-old queen rekindled her romance with “lover” Jaime del Burgo during a 2011 trip to New York.
Written by a veteran reporter (According to the Daily MailPresident Felipe, 56, claims he “knew in real time that Letizia was cheating on him” because her bodyguards were obliged to reveal her whereabouts.
Peñafiel said security was present when Leticia visited New York with her lover, who she is said to have first dated before meeting Felipe.
“That day she was accompanied by her faithful guards, who were no doubt in the presence of the Ministry of the Interior and [the Palace of] “Zarzuela,” he writes, noting that the news “devastated and devastated” Felipe.
Notably, del Burgo later married Leticia’s sister, Thelma Ortiz.
This is not the first time Peñafiel has written about the Queen’s reported infidelity.
In “Leticia and I,” released in January, Del Burgo spoke about their rumored relationship.
He told me that he met Princess Letizia in 2000 and that their relationship began years before she met the king.
The businessman had intended to propose to Princess Letizia in 2002, but she later told him she was dating an unnamed “diplomat”.
He also sensationally claimed that Letizia met him in a restaurant on the eve of their fancy wedding in 2004 and asked him to “never leave me”.
“She held my hand and asked me why I hadn’t proposed before,” he recalled. “Of course I had no answer. I just encouraged her as best I could.”
Del Burgo claimed the affair eventually ended in 2011 when Leticia called him to say she “could no longer continue seeing him.”
Leticia was previously married to writer Alonso Guerrero Pérez from 1998 to 1999 after a 10-year relationship.
She was working as a TV reporter when she met Felipe, but quit her job after their engagement was announced in 2003.
The couple have two daughters, Leonor, 18, and Sofia, 17.
