Queen Letizia of Spain resides in the opulent Zarzuela Palace today, but her pre-royal life unfolded in a modest Madrid apartment. Purchased in 1999 for €230,000 (approximately £200,000), the Valdebernardo property witnessed personal turmoil before its sale in 2008.
Post-Divorce Beginnings
Letizia married high school teacher Alonso Guerrero Pérez in a civil ceremony in August 1998, only to divorce a year later. She rebuilt her journalism career from the small bachelorette apartment, where professional networks led to her future with King Felipe.
In 2002, while working as a reporter for Televisión Española, Letizia met Felipe at a dinner party arranged by mutual friend and journalist Pedro Erquicia. The couple announced their engagement in November 2003, with Felipe expressing profound commitment.
“I am very happy to be able to show how happy our engagement has made me and how in love I am with Letizia. For every couple, it is an important step to become engaged. I say to you with conviction that Letizia is the woman with whom I want to share my life and to build a family,” Felipe stated.
Reporters staked out the apartment, but Letizia’s discreet lifestyle yielded little. Doorman Gaspar, a close contact, described her positively: “I’m the only one who has any contact with her here. You can be sure that the prince is gaining more from this than she is. She’s a true lady, down-to-earth, discreet, a real gem.”
Tragic Loss in the Family
Following the engagement, Letizia relocated to the palace for wedding preparations and allowed her sister Erika—an interior designer for a TV production company—to stay in the apartment with her daughter, Carla.
Devastation struck in 2007 when Erika, aged 31, died by suicide in the apartment shortly after separating from her husband, sculptor Antonio Vigo. At the Madrid funeral, Letizia tearfully thanked supporters: “Thank you to everyone who has shown sympathy following the death of my little sister.”
Clouded by Letizia’s divorce, Erika’s separation, and the tragic death, the property sold in 2008, closing a painful chapter in the queen’s early life.
