Queen Letizia of Spain sparked widespread curiosity among royal watchers after celebrating Spain’s FIFA World Cup win over Argentina with her husband King Felipe VI and daughters Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofia.
Dressed in Spain’s national colours, Letizia wore a bright red midi dress with an elegant yet simple cut, which she accessorised with delicate diamond earrings and one gold band.
The latter was worn on the index finger of her left hand, which is an unconventional place for a wedding band, and her engagement ring remained missing.
One fan questioned the placement, writing: “The Queen has her wedding ring on her left index finger here in the UK it’s [the] 3rd finger [of the left] hand, the same as in the US. Unless it’s custom in Spain to have it on [the] index finger.”
Another clarified: “Queen Letizia has not worn a wedding ring since 2011; instead, she wears a gold ring by Coreterno featuring an inscription on the outside that reads ‘Amor che tutto move,’ and on the inside, ‘As long as I’m existing, you will be loved.’ However, it is not her wedding band.
“She began wearing this ring in 2023. In almost all of Spain, we wear the wedding ring on the third finger of the right hand, although in Catalonia and Valencia, it is worn on the third finger of the left hand.”
So where are Queen Letizia’s rings, and why have they not been seen in over a decade?
Letizia’s original engagement ring featured 16 diamonds
The royal proposed to the former journalist with an eternity ring featuring 16 diamonds in 2003 following a secret one-year relationship.
© GettyThe Spanish Royal Court revealed the news on 1 November 2003, and the couple revealed they had known for “some time” they wanted to marry, but took private time to process the happy news.
Felipe described the engagement ring by Spanish brand Suárez Jewellery as “a modern design”, but it was only pictured on Letizia’s finger up until around 2011.
Why the royal removed her ring years ago
Many royal ladies have swapped their wedding and engagement rings in favour of dress jewellery for royal outings, and in Letizia’s case, she wears a Coreterno or £105 gold-plated Karen Hallam design gifted to her from her two daughters.
However, Letizia’s decision to retire her engagement ring from her jewellery rotation entirely stems from both her discomfort during handshakes, and her desire to distance herself from scandal.
It is thought that Felipe asked his sister Princess Cristina’s then-husband Iñaki Urdangarin to collect the ring from the jewellery shop in Barcelona in order to keep his proposal under wraps.
Former Olympic handball player Iñaki reportedly paid for it using a credit card belonging to the Noos Institute, which later came under scrutiny for embezzling public funds. He was sentenced to five years in prison, and the public outrage was a contributing factor in King Juan Carlos I abdicating in 2014.
King Felipe stripped his sister of her royal titles as she faced accusations of tax evasion (for which she was later acquitted), with the palace releasing a statement in 2015 that read: “The Official Journal of the state will … publish a royal decree by which His Majesty the King will revoke the use of the title of Duchess of Palma de Mallorca by Her Royal Highness the Infanta Cristina.”
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