Get ready for some serious competition, Kate! Princess Letizia set to become Queen of Spain... and she certainly looks the part

Daily Mail (UK) | 2 June 2014

She's the slim, chic brunette from a modest background who became a princess. Remind you of anyone?

Now, Spain's own Kate Middleton, Princess Letizia - one of Europe's most glamorous royals - is to become a queen. 

King Juan Carlos, who has ruled the country for 39 years since General Franco's death in 1975, today announced his abdication.

He will be succeeded by his son, Prince Felipe de Borbon, 46, and his wife Princess Letizia, 41, will become Queen of Spain.

The 42 year old Princess Letizia will now become Queen of Spain as her husband the Crown Prince will ascend the throne following his father's shock abdication

Prince Felipe is flanked by Princess Letizia and Spain's Queen Sofia, (left) outside of Westminster Abbey ahead of the wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton

Prince Charles looked enamored with the Princess when he met her in Madrid in 2011 (left) while Camilla also seemed charmed by the 41-year-old royal (right)

Princes Letizia, pictured here with Felipe arriving to a gala dinner at Soto de Vinuelas Palace in Madrid, has become a fashion and style icon in Spain

Princess of Asturias Letizia Ortiz married the Spanish Crown Prince Felipe of Bourbon in 2004 is a stunning ceremony that culminated in the couple saluting the crowd on the balcony of the Oriental Palace in Madrid

Prince Felipe and Letizia married at the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid, where the bride wore a ivory satin dress with a 15ft train and a diamond tiara worn by her mother in law Queen Sofia at her own wedding

The young royal couple's 2004 wedding (left) was as jubilant an affair as Kate and William's 2011 nuptials (right)

As Crown Princess Letizia has embraced her role as a public figure, experimenting with her fashion while maintaining the dignified look required from a royal

Letizia and Felipe attended an event in Barcelona last week (left) showing no sign of any unrest within the royal circle. Right, the couple let their disappointment show after Madrid was eliminated from the voting at 125th Session of the International Olympic Committee last year

Letizia Ortiz, from Asturias in the north west of Spain, married Prince Felipe de Borbon ten years ago at Cathedral Santa María la Real de la Almudena in Madrid.

On her big day the royal bride dazzled in an ivory gown with a 15-foot-long train and a sparkling platinum and diamond tiara, which her mother-in-law Queen Sofia wore for her wedding almost exactly 42 years previously.

Letizia comes from non-aristocratic stock: she is the granddaughter of a taxi driver and the eldest daughter of Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez, a journalist, and first wife María de la Paloma Rocasolano Rodríguez, a nurse and hospital union representative from a working-class background.

She attended public high school and did a degree at the Complutense University of Madrid. She later gained an MA in Audiovisual Journalism at the Institute for Studies in Audiovisual Journalism.

Letizia shops at the supermarket and champions Spanish high street fashion brands such as Zara and Mango, as well as couturiers such as Felipe Varela and Lorenzo Caprile.

At the announcement of her engagement to the Crown Prince, Letizia, pictured here with Queen Sofia (left), husband Felipe (centre left) and King Juan Carlos (right), opted to wear a chic tailored white suit rather than a more traditional dress

Letiza made her mark as a Spanish fashion icon right from the start of her life as a Royal, choosing a unconventional but elegant pant suit to announce her engagement . Right, Letizia shows the waiting crowds her engagement ring 

She has become noticeably slimmer and more elegant in the ten years since her marriage. Like Kate, her fashion choices are analysed and minutely picked over by the press in Spain.

However, unlike Kate, Letizia forged a stellar career for herself before her marriage.

In the years leading up to the couple's engagement in November 2003, she had become a household name in Spain as a reporter and TV anchor, covering historic events such as the Iraq War and 9/11. She reported live from Ground Zero in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.

Letizia gave up her high-flying career on marrying Prince Felipe. The couple has since has since had two children, Infanta Leonor de Todos los Santos of Spain, born 31 October 2005 - who is next in line - and Infanta Sofía de Todos los Santos of Spain, born 29 April 2007.

Before she became a member of the Spanish royal family, Letizia was a journalist and television presenter covering events such as the 2000 American presidential elections and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as Spanish news

Letizia continued working during her engagement to Felipe, pictured left during a broadcast in 2002, and right as presenter of Spanish News Magazine in 2003, just a year before her marriage 

Letizia, pictured pregnant with her second child in 2007, has two children with Felipe; Infanta Leonor of Spain and Infanta Sofía of Spain

Queen Sofia (left) accompanied Felipe and Crown Princess Letizia to the UK for the marriage of William and Kate, where Letizia impressed with her fashionable outfit choices

Letizia and Felipe are often spotted taking their daughters to school, with the day of their tenth wedding anniversary, May 22, being no exception.

The couple marked their wedding anniversary by releasing two new photos of themselves with their daughters. Posted on the Spanish royal family's official Twitter account, the pictures show Felipe and Letizia taking their two girls to school — proving that was a working day like any other for the modern royal family.

The family currently lives in a residence located a few dozen metres from the Palace of Zarzuela.

Letizia, who has been described as a 'breath of fresh air' for the Spanish monarchy has been praised for her modern approach to being a princess.

In fact, so modern is she that she will become the first divorcee to become queen in Spain's history.

She wed Alonso Guerrero Pérez, a writer and a high-school literature teacher, on 7 August 1998, in a simple civil ceremony at Almendralejo, in Badajoz, after a 10-year courtship. The couple had no children and divorced in 1999.

As the previous marriage involved only a civil ceremony, the Roman Catholic Church did not consider it canonically valid and therefore did not require an annulment from the Pope to proceed with a Roman Catholic marriage to Felipe, the Prince of Asturias.