Felipe VI of Spain

Born in Madrid in 1968 under Franco's dictatorship, Felipe grew up as the only son of Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sophia of Greece. At nine he became an honorary army officer; at eighteen he was formally sworn in as heir. He studied law in Madrid, earned a master's at Georgetown, then completed military training across all three branches of the Spanish armed forces. For years he worked the representative circuit - foundations, inaugurations, diplomatic stops - and at one he met television journalist Letizia Ortiz, whom he married in 2004. They have two daughters. He took the crown on 19 June 2014 after his father stepped down. The reign opened onto turbulence: Catalonia's 2017 independence referendum, which he condemned sharply, then the pandemic. He pushed transparency reforms and tried to modernize the monarchy from within, holding what polls in 2020 called moderately high approval.