spaincolours.com, A bridge towards spain - <b>Felipe</b>'s fiancee wins over press

Photos of Crown Prince Felipe's journalist fiancee -- covering the war in Iraq dressed with a black veil inside a mosque or presenting the evening news in elegant suits -- were splashed across newspapers Sunday as Spain rejoiced in the couple's engagement.

Spaniards called Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano a "perfect contemporary queen of the 21st century."

"The future queen is a Spanish woman who is very representative of our time: Young, professional, a traveler, independent and with personal and professional experiences in common with millions of its compatriots," Madrid daily El Pais said in its editorial.

"Letizia Ortiz has started the way to become the first Spanish contemporary queen who does not come from a royal family or the aristocracy," the paper added.

The Spanish Royal Palace announced Saturday that the 35-year-old heir to the Spanish throne will wed Ortiz, 31, a well-known anchorwoman for Spanish national television, next summer at Madrid's Almudena Cathedral.

The couple are expected to make their first public appearance Thursday at the Zarzuela Palace.

"The Television Queen," read the front page headline of Madrid daily El Mundo.

"The fact that the prince has chosen a journalist whose face is very familiar is a sign of modern times," it said.

Although Ortiz is divorced, Spain's dominant Roman Catholic Church is not expected to oppose her remarriage because the original wedding was not held in a church.

"Nearly a million Spaniards have gone through a similar situation, so being a divorcee is not a reason to bar her from marrying a prince," El Mundo observed.

In a quick poll conducted by El Mundo, 70 percent of respondents said they support the marriage and 30 percent are against it.

Felipe's bachelorhood has been the subject of keen national speculation The news of the engagement stunned Spaniards. The couple's secret courtship had only started months ago after they reportedly met each other at a common friend's house in September 2002.

Ortiz, a daughter and granddaughter of journalists who was raised in a middle-class family, is seen as a smart and aggresive television reporter. She has experience in working in different Spanish media as well as covering important breaking news stories abroad such as the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and the recent war in Iraq.

She is expected to leave her job at Spanish television, the newspapers said.

Spain's royal family is held in high regard by most Spaniards, and Spanish media have been very interested in the love life of the tall, dashing prince who is the youngest of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia's three children. As their only son, he is the first in line to inherit the Spanish throne.

His last courtship with a Norwegian fashion model girlfriend was widely criticized because the woman had modeled sexy lingerie, was a Lutheran, and had not finished her university studies.

But this time monarchists eagerly welcomed the prince's decision.

"The prince has made the right choice. It has taken him some time, but he's right. And it was not easy. He had to marry a woman he felt in love with and that met all the conditions to be in the difficult role of being queen of Spain," said Luis Maria Anson, editor of the conservative daily La Razon.

Note: from cnn.com