Black Diamonds for Queen Letizia in Barcelona

Felipe and Letizia traveled to Barcelona for the awarding of the Planeta Prize. The prize, established in 1952, honors novels written by authors writing in Spanish, with the goal of increasing the profile of Spanish-language writers and encouraging a love for literature.

This year’s ceremony grabbed international headlines when the winning “author,” the acclaimed thriller writer Carmen Mola, was revealed to be three male screenwriters (Agustín Martínez, Jorge Díaz, and Antonio Mercero) writing under a female pseudonym. The guests at the ceremony, including Felipe and Letizia, were reported to be “shocked” by the revelation of the true identity of the writer.

Queen Letizia glittered from head to toe at the ceremony, wearing a sparkling black and silver gown with intricate metallic embroidery. She wore black accessories with her Felipe Varela dress. (Thanks, as always, to Queen Letizia Style for providing details on Letizia’s clothes!)

Letizia sensibly kept her accessories simple, letting the embellishments of the dress stay in the spotlight. With her usual gold oval ring from Karen Hallam, she wore a pair of diamond earrings that have been in her collection for many years.

The earrings, set with black and white diamonds, were made by De Grisogono. The Swiss jewelry firm, which was founded by the black diamond specialist Fawaz Gruosi in 1993, filed for bankruptcy in January 2020. It’s worth noting that the shuttering came on the heels of revelations about connections between Isabel dos Santos, the businesswoman who had taken over the company in 2012, and shady dealings involving Angolese diamonds.

Felipe and Letizia clearly enjoyed themselves at the dinner—and, after all, who wouldn’t love a literary evening that involved a shocking secret identity revelation?