Felipe de Borbón y Grecia, third child of the King and
Queen of Spain, Juan Carlos and Sofia, was born in Madrid on 30
January 1968.
His coming into the world, which assured succession via a male
descendant to the Crown, to which male children have precedent over
female ones in Spain, was a dynastic event underscored by the symbolic
names which he was given at his baptism, Felipe, Juan, Pablo, and
Alfonso of All Saints (those of the first Borbón to rule
in Spain, his grandfathers the Count of Barcelona and King Pablo
of the Hellenes, and his great-grandfather King Alfonso XIII) and
by the fact that his godparents were the Chief of Staff to the Spanish
Royal House and Queen Victoria Eugenia, who once again set foot
on Spanish soil, which they had not done since 1931.
He began his studies at the Santa María de los Rosales School,
a modern center which allowed him to blend in without distinctions
and where he remained until 1984.
Heir to the Crown since the proclamation of his father as King
(1975), he received the title of Prince of Asturias in 1977, together
with the Princes of Gerona and Viana, corresponding to the progenies
of the Monarchs of Castile, Aragon, and Navarra, whose union formed
the Spanish Monarchy in the 16th century.
With his secondary school studies finished, he enrolled for one
preparatory year at the Lakefield College School in Canada. Afterwards,
he started his military training at the Academies and Schools of
the three Armed Forces over the course of three years.
In 1987 he performed his practical on-board exercises as a Midshipman
on a training vessel from the Juan Sebastián Elcano fleet,
during which time he was received by the Presidents of Argentina,
Brazil, the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay.
On 30 January 1986, at age eighteen, he took an oath of allegiance
to the Constitution and to the King before Parliament (assembled
in a solemn joint session with Congress and the Senate), assuming
his full institutional role as successor to the Crown.
From 1988 to June 1993 he studied at the Autonomous University
of Madrid, where he took a degree in Law and specialized in Economics.
Between September 1993 and June 1995 he was enrolled in a Master's
program in International Relations in the Edmund Walsh School of
Foreign Service at Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.).
He has carried out various official visits to countries in Europe
and Latin America, as well as to the Arabic world, the Far East,
and Oceania.
Since January 1996, His Royal Highness has taken on the representation
of the government at the swearing-in ceremonies of Ibero-American
Presidents. The international matters which H.R.H. takes a special
interest in are all those related to the Middle East, North Africa,
and Ibero-America.
In 1995 he initiated a series of official visits to the Autonomous
Communities in order to deepen his understanding of Spain and the
Spanish people.
In the main, he focuses his attention on those activities concerned
with development, University outgrowth, youth participation in the
business world, and social communication through the various associations
and foundations of which he is Honorary President.
Standing out among the latter is the foundation which bears his
name and annually grants the internationally prestigious Prince
of Asturias Awards.
Concerned for the environment, between November 1996 and January
1997 he presented ten instalments of the Espana Salvaje series,
dedicated to nature and produced by T.V.E. under the sponsorship
of the TENEO Foundation and under the auspices of the Spanish Section
of the World Wildlife Fund.
He engages in various sports activities, such as skiing and sailing.
He was a member of the Olympic team in the latter speciality at
the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, during whose inauguration he
appeared as a standard-bearer for the Spanish team. |