The princess’ sister’s hidden pain drove her to take her own life, but Letizia puts on a brave face for the public. Nobody expected to see her there. A week after her sister’s suicide and six months’ pregnant, Doña Letizia was back on duty, attending a seminar at the Instituto Cervantes in Madrid last Wednesday. Dressed in black and visibly grieving, the brave young princess’ arrival came as a surprise to all those present, particularly as the event had not been earmarked in the Royal diary.

Clearly, though, despite the tragedy and her delicate condition, Letizia felt it wise to return to relative normality as soon as possible. Despite having been through hell and back, she has returned, against all odds, to the public eye. Already following a tight agenda whilst caring for her one-year-old daughter, Leonor and heavily pregnant, the sudden death of the princess’ younger sister Érika last week left her reeling.

Found dead in her home in the Madrid neighbourhood of Valdebernardo – the house Letizia used to live in until her engagement to Prince Felipe was announced – 31-year-old graphic designer Érika Ortiz Rocasolano was laid to rest on Saturday, February 10 at the parish church of La Ascensión de Nuestra Señora in El Prado de Somosaguas, near Pozuelo de Alarcón in Madrid.

Police, alerted by Érika’s boyfriend who found her body at her home the day after her death, discovered empty packets of tablets, mainly tranquillisers, in her rubbish bags during a lengthy investigation of the house.

Érika had slept alone in the house on the night of Wednesday, February 7, taking two days’ holiday from her job at television company Globomedia for ‘personal reasons’.

Everything points to the conclusion that the princess’ sister knew what she intended to do, and planned her departure to the last detail. Separated from the father of her six-year-old daughter Carla, Érika had been suffering from severe depression and was signed off work for a month and a half leading up to Christmas. Yet she returned just weeks before her death, keeping up an appearance of normality, and of having recovered.

When she failed to return to work after her two days off and did not answer calls from colleagues and friends, those around her began to fear the worst.  Her television technician partner found her just hours later.

Although an official verdict of suicide takes at least a month to be approved and signed, the autopsy carried out on the young mother’s body revealed that she had died from a massive overdose of pharmaceutical drugs.

Érika’s distraught friends and family held a mass for her the day after her death in the Tanatorio de la Paz in Tres Cantos, but Queen Sofía and the princess’ other sister, Telma, were unable to attend. The queen was on a charity visit in Indonesia and Telma lives in Manila, and neither were able to fly back in time, although transport was laid on to take them to Madrid at the first available opportunity.

Érika’s hidden heartbreak
A graduate in fine arts, Oviedo-born Érika, on the surface, appeared to lead a charmed life. She had lived in Madrid since 2002 when she moved to the capital to take up a job as an account manager with Urzaiz Comunicación, now AB Public Relations, before starting with Globomedia 18 months ago in their design department. Here, she designed the sets for two popular TV programmes on La Sexta (channel six), Habitación 623 and Anónimos. A strong character who loved children and doted on her daughter and niece Leonor, she had a very close bond with sister Letizia. Although Érika’s parents separated when she was 24, she maintained a good relationship with both parents and her father’s new wife.

Yet the successful career woman image masked something much darker and deeper - Érika was suffering from depression, severe enough to lead her doctor to sign her off work for six weeks.

Her relationship with the father of her child, Antonio Vigo, was not a high-profile affair. Until their separation a year ago was announced in Hola! magazine, the public were unaware that they were not married, and that he earned a living as a sculptor and road-sweeper.

Érika struggled hard to maintain her family financially, working around the clock, and fought to balance motherhood with a demanding job after splitting from Antonio.

Érika’s new partner, who found her body two weeks ago, was a colleague at Globomedia who lives in the Madrid suburb of Vicálvaro and was described by glossy magazines last year as ‘extraordinarily attractive’.  He was said to be far more outgoing than Érika who, although a natural leader, was considered by those who knew her as a serious character, quite distant, who kept herself to herself.

There is speculation that shortly before her death Érika had separated from the television technician, with reports linking her to an older man.

Even those close to Érika will probably never truly know what drove her to make her final, devastating decision to give up on life, leaving her child without a mother and knowing that she would never meet her eagerly-awaited new royal niece.