Menchu Álvarez del Valle

María del Carmen "Menchu" Álvarez del Valle (16 January 1928 – 27 July 2021) was a Spanish radio journalist and paternal grandmother of the queen consort of Spain, Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano.

Biography and career She was born in Santander, northern Spain on 16 January 1928, and moved to Oviedo at the age of 16, where she soon collaborated in Radio Asturias. In 1947 she made her professional debut on Radio Oviedo, and from there she went on to work on the radio stations "La Voz del Principado", "" and "Radio Nacional de España".

In 1982, she briefly appeared in television, on the TVE program Gol y Mundial 82. She retired in 1990. Her daughter Cristina died in 2001.

Álvarez del Valle rose to national fame when Jesús José's daughter Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, also a journalist, announced her engagement to then-Prince of Asturias Felipe, the King of Spain since 2014. She maintained a very close relationship with Letizia Ortiz, who followed in her grandmother's footsteps in her training as a journalist.

In September 2015, Álvarez del Valle, together with her two children Jesús and Henar, were acquitted by a court of Oviedo after being accused for several crimes of punishable insolvency. The private prosecution asked for two and a half years in prison and a fine for 16 months for each of them.

Álvarez del Valle's last years were spent between Ribadesella and Marbella, and it was common to see her at the Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony at the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo. She died at her home in Sardéu at the age of 93.

Awards Antena de Oro. (1974) Antena de Oro. (2004) "Premio de Honor Gava" from the Cluster Association of the Creative, Cultural and Audiovisual Industry of Asturias. (2019)