The Spanish royal family’s latest drama is worthy of “The Crown.”
Queen Letizia‘s ex-brother-in-law, Jamie Del Burgo, is claiming that he had an affair with the royal before he married her sister Telma Ortiz Rocasolano.
In the 53-year-old’s contribution to Jaime Peñafiel’s book “Letizia & I,” out in February 2024, he alleged that they were romantically involved after her 2004 wedding to King Felipe, the Daily Mail reported Monday.
Del Burgo, who was married to Telma from 2014 to 2016, told the author that he met Letizia in 2000 and began a relationship with her years before she met King Felipe.
The entrepreneur claimed that he was planning to propose to Letizia in 2002 when she shared that she was dating an unnamed “diplomat.”
Del Burgo alleged that Letizia met him at a restaurant the night before her nuptials and asked that he “never leave” her.
“She took hold of my hand and asked me why I had never asked her to marry me,” he recalled. “Obviously I didn’t reply. I encouraged her as best I could.”
The businessman even claimed that the pair maintained their romantic relationship after the ceremony, citing “photographs, videos, mobile phones” and text messages as evidence.
However, Del Burgo claimed Letizia ended their alleged relationship in 2011 when she called and announced they couldn’t “continue seeing each other.”
Del Burgo shared an undated selfie on X, formerly known as Twitter, of Letizia wearing a black pashmina in a bathroom mirror during one of her pregnancies as alleged proof.
“Love. I wear your pashmina,” she wrote, according to Del Burgo. “It’s like feeling you by my side. It takes care of me.”
When multiple social media users questioned the validity of the image, the businessman deleted his X account.
The Spanish Royal Family declined to comment on Del Burgo’s claims.
Letizia was previously married to Alonso Guerrero Pérez from 1998 to 1999, following a ten-year courtship.
She was a television reporter when she met Felipe but quit after their engagement was announced. They share daughters Leonor, 18, and Sofia, 16.
As for Rocasolano, Letizia’s sibling moved on with Irish lawyer Gavin Bonnar, with whom she shares a child born in 2021. Del Burgo, for his part, is married to Swedish lawyer Lucía Díaz Liljestrom.
