Helen of Bourbon

Elena de Borbón y Grecia, whose full name is Elena María Isabel Dominica de Silos de Borbón y Grecia (Madrid, Spain, December 20, 1963) is an infanta Spanish, eldest daughter of King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and sister of the current King of Spain, Felipe VI. She deserves, therefore, the treatment of royal highness . Since March 3, 1995, she has held the title of Duchess of Lugo.

She ranks third in the line of succession to the Spanish throne, after her nieces Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía.

Early Years

Infanta Elena, about King Juan Carlos, after the birth of her sister Cristina.

Elena María Isabel Dominica de Silos de Borbón y Grecia was born in Madrid, Spain on December 20, 1963, at 2:10 p.m., in the Nuestra Señora de Loreto clinic. baptized by the apostolic nuncio in Spain, Antonio Riberi, on December 27 of the same year in the palace of La Zarzuela. Her godparents were her paternal grandmother, Princess María de las Mercedes de Borbón y Orleans, Countess of Barcelona, and the Infante Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón.

Training

She completed her basic studies at the Colegio de Santa María del Camino and then studied Teaching at the Escuela Universitaria ESCUNI in Madrid, graduating in 1986 as a teacher of Basic General Education specializing in English.

After working as an English teacher at the Colegio de Santa María del Camino and taking a specialized course in Sociology and Education in Exeter (United Kingdom), she completed her studies at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science of Education in June 1993. In addition to Spanish, the Infanta also speaks English and French.

Marriage and offspring

On November 23, 1994, it was officially announced that the Infanta would marry the aristocrat Jaime de Marichalar y Sáenz de Tejada, son of the counts of Ripalda. The couple would have met in 1993 through mutual friends, although other publications have ensured that they coincided in advanced French language courses, taught by the University of La Sorbonne in 1987. On November 26, a few days after the official announcement, the engagement took place in the palace of La Zarzuela.

The marriage would take place on March 18, 1995 at the High Altar of the Seville Cathedral. On the occasion of the wedding, the first of an offspring of an acting monarch since May 13, 1868, the wedding of the Infanta Isabel, the king granted her the title of Duchess of Lugo. In addition, the infanta was received as lady divisera hijadalgo of the Illustrious Solar de Tejada. As a result of the marriage, they had two children:

• Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar and Borbón, great of Spain, born on July 17, 1998, in Madrid.
• Victoria Federica de Marichalar y Borbón, grande de España, born on September 9, 2000, in Madrid.

Divorce

On November 13, 2007, the Royal Household announced the "temporary cessation of their marital cohabitation" with the Duke of Lugo, affirming that this did not mean a definitive separation and allowing, while the separation lasted, Jaime de Marichalar to continue using the title of Duke of Lugo as his consort. After thirteen years of marriage, the Infanta Elena moved to another home in an urbanization close to the couple's old home. to a greater extent, the fact that, according to the magazine Epoca, the infanta alleged against her husband "occasional use of cocaine" to justify the request for canonical annulment.

In November 2009, various Spanish media outlets stated that the divorce of the Infanta and Jaime de Marichalar could be announced imminently, news that had been speculated on since the previous year. In November 2009, the lawyers for both parties confirmed in a press release that the Dukes of Lugo had begun the procedures for "mutual and common agreement" with the signing of a regulatory agreement. Although this statement does not mention a request for the ecclesiastical annulment of the marriage, it was published in the press that the first steps could already have been taken to obtain it. On December 15, 2009 Jaime de Marichalar and the Infanta Elena signed the ratification of the divorce agreement before a judge in the Family Court number 22 of Madrid. The Dukes of Lugo were granted the privilege of accessing the judicial headquarters through rooms not open to the public to avoid being seen. A few days later, with the signing of the sentence by the judge, the divorce took place. The divorce file of the Dukes of Lugo was deposited in a security grade IV safe belonging to the court where the procedure was processed. This unusual measure was adopted to prevent the file from being stolen.

On January 21, 2010, the divorce agreement with Jaime de Marichalar was registered in the Civil Registry of the Royal Family, being legally divorced from that day, although this was not disclosed by the Royal Family until the February 9, 2010.

Work and business activity

On December 10, 2007, the Infanta Elena bought Global Cinoscéfalos, a limited liability company with a capital of €3,600 whose corporate purpose consisted, among other things, of “advising financial and accounting matters and financial", as well as "the promotion and carrying out of urban actions [...] for the start-up, construction, leasing or any other form of exploitation of commercial leisure centers or hotels". The sole administrator of this company It was Luis Carlos García Revenga, adviser to the princesses Elena and Cristina and former treasurer of the Instituto Nóos. Ten days after the news of the acquisition of the company by Elena de Borbón spread, the Casa Real announced the beginning of the company's dissolution process, without the company having started to have any activity.

In July 2008, the House of His Majesty the King announced the contract of the Infanta Elena by Fundación MAPFRE, in which she directs the Social Action area, one of the five areas of the foundation chaired by José Manuel Martinez Martinez.

In 2008 it was learned that he received a remuneration of €200,000 per year from said foundation. The infanta lives in a 468 m² apartment in the Niño Jesús neighborhood of Madrid, valued at almost two million euros.

In 2020, various media outlets published that, for at least three fiscal years, the Infanta Elena —like her sister Cristina— used opaque cards to pay personal expenses, whose main beneficiaries would have been her children Froilán and Victoria Federica. These funds came from money without declaring the Treasury deposited in a hidden account managed on behalf of her father Juan Carlos de Borbón, investigated by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor. More than €250,000 would have circulated through this financing channel.

Later life as Rey's sister

Doña Elena, her father and her children in the presentation of posters at the San Isidro Fair in 2019.

On June 19, 2014, he legally ceased to be a member of the Royal Family, becoming part of the "Familia del Rey", and without this entailing the loss of the honors and protocol treatments acquired with the proclamation of Juan Carlos I, although Elena de Borbón stopped receiving the fixed and stipulated allowance from the budgets for the monarchy and stopped having a stable agenda in the list of components of the Royal Family. Even so, the Casa del Rey officially registered as an institutional activity, although without reincorporating it, its attendance, in the Cathedral of Seville, at the funeral of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, XVIII Duchess of Alba, on Friday, November 21 of 2014, a fact that was criticized by the press given its solitary performance, without any person still included in the dwindling Royal Family. This aspect is not at all discordant, if one takes into account that it was the Duchess of Lugo herself who presented her condolences to the House of Alba, on behalf of the Crown, when the funeral of Jesús Aguirre and Ortiz de Zárate, at the dawn of the century. In addition, both she and her ex-husband have always maintained very close ties with representatives of the traditional aristocracy, such as her relative Sonia Márquez de Baviera or Pilar Medina Sidonia. The Infanta, who trusts her brother Felipe VI as Head of State, has taken the opportunity since then to give more attention to her private life, her hobbies and pleasures such as her horse riding. Regarding the education of her children, she has opted for placing them in British educational centers, sending her children Felipe and Victoria Federica, respectively, to Cottesmore School and Mayfield St. Leonard & # 39 yes Their parents, throughout fourteen years of conjugal cohabitation, have been more than frequent, practically obligatory, presences at aristocratic and high society events. It should also be noted that the public perception of her has avoided the degradation that both her sister and her brother-in-law have suffered in value terms, even though she has resented the distance between her two brothers. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Lugo has been the only one in her genealogical branch to have cultivated a fluid relationship with her second cousin Luis Alfonso de Borbón, virtual head of this dynasty of men.

Specifically, he officially represents his brother. He does attend numerous social and cultural events frequently.

Awards

Spanish honorary distinctions

• Great cross of the Royal Order of Elizabeth the Catholic (04/10/1982).
• Great cross of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III (14/10/1988).

Foreign Honorary Distinctions

• Member of First Class of the Order of the Three Divine Powers (Reino de Nepal, 19/09/1983).
• Great cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Kingdom of the Netherlands, 08/10/1985).
• Great cross of the Order of the Hawk (Island, 16/09/1985).
• Great cross of the Quetzal Order (Republic of Guatemala, 01/10/1986).
• Great cross of the Order of Christ (Portuguese Republic, 13/10/1988).
• Great cord of the Order of Leopoldo (Reino de Belgium, 19/09/1994).
• Great cord of the Order of the Precious Crown (State of Japan, 10/10/1994).
• Great cross of the Order of San Olaf (Reino de Norway, 25/04/1995).
• Medal of the 50th Anniversary of King Carlos XVI Gustavo (Reino de Sweden, 30/04/1996).
• Grand cross of the Order to the Merit of the Italian Republic (Italian Republic, 27/06/1996).
• Grand cross of the Order of Infante Don Enrique (Portuguese Republic, 23/08/1996).
• Great Decoration of Honor in Gold with Order of Merit of the Republic of Austria (Republic of Austria, 02/06/1997).
• Great cord of the Order of the Star of Jordan (Reino Hachemite of Jordan, 20/10/1999).
• Grand cross of the Order of Adolfo de Nassau (Gran Duchy of Luxembourg, 07/05/2001).
• Grand cross of the Order to Merit of Chile (Republic of Chile, 04/06/2001).
• Grand Cross of the Order of Honour (Hellenic Republic, 25/09/2001).
• Grand cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru (Republic of Peru, 05/07/2004).

Titles and treatments

• 20 December 1963 - 18 March 1995: Your Royal Highness the Infanta Doña Elena.
• 3 March 1995 - present: His Royal Highness the Infanta Doña Elena, duchess of Lugo.

Ancestors

Predecessor: Sofia de Borbón y Ortiz

Line of succession to the throne of Spain 3.♪ place

Successor: Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y Borbón