Throughout its history – which dates back to 1812 – the National Lottery has distributed prizes throughout Spain and has also honored personalities from the world of culture, sports and television. Tomorrow the most famous tombola in our country will take place, the extraordinary Christmas raffle, in which various prominent names in our country, including Queen Letizia, have often been lucky. But although it is believed to have happened on that remarkable day, it actually happened at the most important moment in the life of Philip VI’s wife.
It’s hard to imagine the highest female representative of the Spanish Crown being on the National Lottery’s list of lucky ones, but that was the case. The story goes back to 2004, a key year in the life of Letizia Ortiz, who had just married the then Prince Felipe de Borbón. This wedding, which took place on May 22 at the Almudena Cathedral, not only marked an institutional milestone but was also, unexpectedly, associated with a raffle.
The origin of the story lies in an unconventional wedding gift. Miguel Garaua Catalan journalist and member of the RTVE Veterans Association – a network where Letizia had worked – decided to give the newlyweds a set of National Lottery tickets. It wasn’t a random choice: Garau set out to find numbers with a special meaning associated with the date of the link.
Her goal was clear: to give a complete sequence of numbers that would include 22,504a combination that reflected the day, month and year of the wedding (05/22/04). To accomplish this, he had to go to the lottery’s headquarters and locate administrations in various cities. Finally he found the tenth in Valencia, in an office in the Plaza de Santa Catalina, where the number was reserved by a regular customer. After various efforts, he managed to achieve this 20 numbers in the series just a few days before the link.
Garau sent the tenths by registered mail, along with a book dedicated to the couple and a message with good wishes for their new life together. The surprise came on the same day of the wedding: one of the numbers given, 22,500, was awarded a second prize. Further tenths received refunds and smaller prizes, bringing the total ticket to over 26,000 euros.
The journalist himself then explained that his strategy was no coincidence. Purchasing a consecutive string of twenty numbers increased the chances of receiving a prize, at least in the form of a refund or an approximation. And on this occasion The play went well. Both Felipe and Letizia received the same amount from this unexpected stroke of luck, around 13,000 euros each.
But far from keeping the money, the couple made a decision that went almost unnoticed at the time, but was consistent with the discretion they always tried to maintain in personal matters. The entire prize was donated to a non-governmental organization whose name was never made public. The exact purpose of this amount remains a secret to this day.
This anecdote makes Queen Letizia one of the few Spanish royals who can declare themselves winners of the national lottery. However, the couple may have been blessed more than once. If they were superstitious, they could have played the same number year after year. And luck would have smiled on them again in 2014, this time with the extraordinary Christmas raffle. Since November 22nd, 22,504 have been awarded 1,000 euros.
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