Secrets of the Madrid court: the Queen of Spain’s affair with her sister’s husband was revealed

The Spanish royal family is rocked by controversial claims by Queen Letizia’s former son-in-law that he had a relationship with the queen before he married her sister Thelma. He shared a never-before-seen photo as “proof” of their romance.

How writes Daily MailJaime Del Burgo, 53, who currently resides in the UK, recently published a tell-all book about the Spanish royal family, in which he makes a “far-fetched” claim, as the publication notes, that they were still romantically involved after Letizia’s wedding to King Felipe in 2004.

The entrepreneur, who claims he was dating Leticia when she met King Felipe, shared on platform X, formerly known as Twitter, an undated selfie the now 51-year-old queen took in front of a bathroom mirror during one of her pregnancies, as “evidence” of their relationship.

In the selfie, the royal can be seen wearing a black pashmina, which Jaime claims belonged to him. He also printed a message supposedly sent to him by the Spanish Queen. It read: “Love. I wear your pashmina. It’s like feeling you next to me. She cares about me. She protects me. I’m counting down the hours until we meet again. Love you. Get out of here. Yours.”

After posting the image, other X users questioned the validity of Jaime’s claims – given that there is no evidence that Letizia sent him the photo or the accompanying message. The businessman has since deleted his X account.

A spokesman for the Spanish royal family said: “We have no comment on this matter.”

The scandal comes just weeks after Jaime Del Burgo, who was married to Leticia’s sister Thelma from 2012 to 2014, made a series of shocking claims about his relationship with the queen in journalist Jaime Peñafiel’s new book Leticia and Me.

In an interview with El Cierre Digitial, the author revealed that Letizia was Jaime del Burgo’s “great love” and the couple’s relationship turned into a “great friendship” after she became romantically involved with King Felipe.

Local media reported that Jaime, who is the son of former politician Jaime Ignacio del Burgo, was planning to propose to Leticia when she announced she was meeting the future king in the gardens of the Ritz Hotel in Madrid. After their engagement was announced in 2003, Leticia, who divorced her first husband in 1999, asked Jaime to be her best man at their wedding.

In the book, Leticia’s alleged ex-lover describes Felipe as a “kind-hearted man” and even goes on to say that he had a “great friendship” with the royal family.

He told the author: “I told him about my problems, and he told [мне] About our”.

However, Jaime claims he remained romantically involved with Letizia even after their wedding in 2004, and says he kept “photos, videos, cell phones” and text messages as evidence. The businessman insisted that “love has always been there” in their relationship since they traveled to Venice together in 2002.

The photo, which Jaime shared on Twitter on Sunday evening, was taken during one of Letizia’s pregnancies between 2005 and 2007, the Daily Mail notes.

In the book, Jaime claims that Leticia whispered that she loved him in 2010, while they were lying in a hammock by the pool at her home: “Lying in the same hammock, under the pool deck, facing each other, Leticia told me, ‘I love you,” and I replied, “I love you.”

One of Jaime’s most damaging claims is reportedly that Queen Letizia suggested they have a child together through a surrogate in Los Angeles.

Around this time, Jaime claims that he confronted Leticia after photographs of her kissing Felipe appeared on the covers of Spanish magazines. He claims the queen told him: “I had to do it to protect us.”

However, in August 2011, Jaime claims Leticia abruptly ended their relationship when she called him and told him: “We can’t continue dating.”

The following year, he became engaged to Leticia’s younger sister Thelma Oris, who formerly worked for the Barcelona city council, after just two months of dating. During this time, Jaime claims that he was still close to Leticia and Felipe.

The author of the scandalous book, Jaime Peñafiel, wrote: “When [Хайме дель Бурго] was about to marry Thelma, it was Felipe who advised him on prenuptial agreements, and over the years they maintained a great friendship.”

In 2012, the couple moved to New York to begin their married life, but Thelma returned to Barcelona that year before announcing their permanent separation in 2014. The couple’s first attempts to divorce were thwarted by the groom’s father, Jaime Ignacio del Burgo, who told the court that his son and Thelma had repented and wanted to give their marriage another chance.

Thelma has since married Irish lawyer Gavin Bonnar and the couple welcomed their first child in October 2021. Gavin has two children together with his first wife, musician Sharon Corr.

Meanwhile, Jaime married for the second time to the Swedish lawyer Lucia Diaz Liljestrom.

Leticia and Thelma tragically lost their younger sister Erica in February 2007 when she passed away from an intentional drug overdose. Queen Letizia’s younger sister was only 31 years old and left behind a six-year-old daughter, Carla. At the time, the Spanish royal was six months pregnant with her second daughter, Princess Sofia.

Leticia Ortiz Roxolano is the eldest daughter of journalist Jesus José Ortiz Álvarez and nurse Maria Paloma Rocasolano Rodriguez. She graduated from the Complutense University of Madrid, where she received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism. In 2000, Leticia received an award from the Madrid Press Association. In 1999, Leticia married Alonso Guerrero Perez, her high school literature teacher, whom she dated for 10 years. The marriage was registered only at the mayor’s office and ended in divorce in 2000. In November 2003, completely unexpectedly for everyone, the Royal Palace announced the upcoming engagement of Prince Felipe of Asturias and journalist Leticia Ortiz Rocasolano. At the engagement, the Crown Prince presented the bride with a white gold engagement ring, and Leticia presented Felipe with white gold cufflinks with sapphires and a book by the classic of Spanish literature, Mariano José de Larra, “The Page of King Enrique the Weak.” Since Letizia’s first marriage was not a church marriage, the Catholic Church did not object to her marriage to the Prince of Asturias. Their wedding took place in May 2004 at the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena in Madrid.