Spain's king carried his country's flag and sailed at the 1992 Olympics
Before he became Felipe VI, the heir to Spain's throne led his nation's team into the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics and then raced in the Soling sailing class, finishing sixth. Sailing runs in the family: his mother, father, sister and a Greek uncle all competed at the Games too.
Felipe was born in Madrid on 30 January 1968, while Francisco Franco still ruled, the youngest of three children and the one boy born to Juan Carlos and his Greek-Danish wife Sophia. His names honour ancestors including Felipe V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, and his baptism used water from the Jordan River. Franco died just over two months before Felipe turned eight, and on 22 November 1975 the boy made his debut in public life when Juan Carlos was proclaimed king.
He was named Prince of Asturias in 1977 and, on his 18th birthday in 1986, swore allegiance to the constitution before parliament. His training was deliberately broad. He attended Lakefield College School in Ontario, took a law degree at the Autonomous University of Madrid, and earned a master's in foreign service at Georgetown, where he shared rooms with his cousin, Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece. Military schooling took him through the army academy in Zaragoza, naval college and the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano, and air force academy, where he learned to fly; he also qualified as a helicopter pilot.
As heir he visited every Latin American country except Cuba, which he reached as king in November 2019, making more than 200 foreign trips. He speaks Spanish, Catalan, French, English and some Greek, and presides over the annual Princess of Asturias Awards. In 2001 Kofi Annan named him a UN Eminent Person for volunteering.
A TV programme broke the news in October 2003 that he was dating Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, a television journalist; their wedding on 22 May 2004 drew more than 25 million Spanish viewers, the most watched broadcast in the country's history. They have two daughters, Leonor and Sofía. Felipe became king on 19 June 2014 after his father abdicated, and his reign has spanned the 2017 Catalan crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and moves toward a more transparent monarchy.
Source: Felipe VI
