Word: letizia
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Playing the Game Increasingly, the velina is a political player as well as a sexual one. Though just 18, Noemi Letizia - whose relationship with Berlusconi spurred feverish speculation in the Italian press this summer - knows how the game works. "[I want to be] a showgirl," she told an Italian newspaper. "I am interested in politics, too ... I'd rather be a candidate for the Chamber of Parliament. Papi Silvio would take care of that." Last year, Berlusconi formalized the politics-showgirls link, appointing Mara Carfagna, 32, a former velina and topless model, as his Minister for Equal Opportunities. This summer...
...media: Berlusconi's Mediaset stations, and his government's control of the state-owned RAI, means he has cornered 90% of the television market, in a country where an estimated 80% of the population gets its news from television. Criticizing Berlusconi can be costly. Since the stories about Letizia and alleged dalliances with prostitutes broke this summer, the newspaper La Repubblica has been covering them aggressively. The paper faces a libel suit from Berlusconi, as have foreign magazines and journalists who have criticized him in the past. "There are newspapers which have gone past the limits, have been too invasive...
...fashion icon. "She has done more for Spanish fashion in the past five years than decades of catwalks and advertisements," writes Maria Jose Iglesias, a journalist whose columns appear in regional papers throughout Spain. The local edition of Elle magazine agrees; in May it ran a special issue on Letizia, declaring her "the best ambassador of Spanish fashion...
...wasn't always thus. Letizia's status as a commoner, as well as her previous marriage to school teacher Alonso Guerrero, offended some of the old guard in Spain. And the hothouse world of the fashion and celebrity press has criticized her for changing her hairstyle too often, speculated on whether the pressures of the palace have driven her to anorexia, and weighed in cattily when news broke that the princess had submitted to rhinoplasty in order, in the palace's version, "to correct a breathing problem." (Thankfully, everyone seems to agree these days that the surgery has flatteringly softened...
...that she has some practice - and better outfits - under her belt, Letizia's approval ratings have climbed (the fact that she has fulfilled her one non-negotiable duty as consort by producing two heirs, the equally well-dressed Leonor, nearly 4 years old, and Sofia, 2, didn't hurt either). In these vicissitudes, of course, Letizia bears a certain resemblance to another famed royal. But don't be looking for her to be taking on the mantle of Diana of Wales anytime soon, warns Montes-Fernandez. "For one thing, Letizia tends to focus on cultural issues rather than humanitarian ones...