‘Queen of the high street’ wears €40 jump-suit from Mango for Royal visit

IT'S NO secret that Queen Letizia's wardrobe contains numerous budget and mid-range high-street buys sandwiched among pieces worth hundreds or even thousands of euros – and, for those who want to dress like a royal but cannot afford to shop with her all-time favourite designer Felipe Varela, HRH Letizia is regularly seen in get-up well within the reach of an average or lower income.

As well as world-famous low-cost fashion chain Zara, Letizia frequently attends public engagements wearing pieces from Massimo Dutti, Uterqüe and Adolfo Domínguez – which require a moderately higher investment than the €26 Zara top she wore at the Princess of Asturias Awards, or the €15 Kafka-logo T-shirt by Eduardo Scala for Delirio Publishing she was photographed in on holiday in Mallorca, but still come in a lot cheaper than you would expect a Queen Consort to spend on outfits for her Royal duties.

The latest cut-price garment HRH Letizia has been snapped wearing for an official engagement is not only from a ubiquitous high-street store, but is one she has had for over two years and which has seen plenty of usage.

She presided over a lunch meeting at Madrid's Student Residence – one of Spain's most iconic cultural hubs – with its board of directors, deans, rectors and faculty heads on Friday, when the heatwave currently gripping Spain was particularly suffocating in the capital, owing to its being a huge metropolis hundreds of kilometres from the coast.

For this reason, cool and comfortable were as crucial as smart and elegant – although the latter two criteria are something Queen Letizia apparently does not have to work at – which meant her loose cotton jump-suit was ideal.

Costing €39.99 from Mango, black and white with a 'fingerprint' pattern, short-sleeved and shirt-style with an open collar, HRH Letizia is said to have particularly admired the belted-in waist, which flatters any figure, including her own model-slim frame.

Whilst the Queen does do 'bling' at times, and when it is called-for, she tends to opt for 'less is more' on the accessories front – on this occasion, other than her beloved and ever-present Karem Hallam ring, HRH Letizia's only jewellery was a pair of gold hooped earrings.

A white clutch bag, and her off-white Sardinia wedge espadrilles from Mint & Rose – of which she has several pairs in various colours – completed the look.

The Queen was seen wearing the jump-suit for the first time in Cuenca in summer 2020, when she and her husband King Felipe VI took a tour of the country to meet local residents in every province to 'celebrate' the end of Covid lockdown.

For this reason, the outfit is no longer on sale – although it did fly off the hangers within hours of Letizia's being photographed in it - but Mango has similar-style lightweight jump-suits on sale for summer 2022, including black-and-white patterned ones which, based upon the Queen's own, she would probably very happily wear.

They retail online and in store at approximately the same prices, from about €40 to €50.

Queen Letizia attended the Students' Residence board lunch meeting on her own, since King Felipe was at the Royal Palace in Oslo for the evening banquet thrown in honour of Norway's Princess Ingrid Alexandra, for her 18th birthday.

The monarchs' younger daughter Sofía, 15, is just finishing school for the summer holidays, and their eldest, Leonor, 16, is due to fly home this weekend from Wales where she is halfway through her sixth-form studies at the prestigious United World College of the Atlantic (UWC Atlantic).