Iñaki Urdangarin Liebaert
Iñaki Urdangarin Liebaert is the sixth child of Juan Maria Urdangarin Berriochoa and Claire Liebaert Courtain.
He was born in Zumárraga, Guipúzcoa, on 15 January 1968 and soon after his birth his family moved to Barcelona where he lived until the age of 16. He then moved to Vitoria where he lived for two years then returned to Barcelona, where the Duke and Duchess of Palma de Mallorca live today.
He studied at the Caspe - Sagrado Corazon de Jesus School in Barcelona, and at the Santa María del Pilar School in Vitoria, playing in their handball teams. At the age of 18, he began to play professionally in the Barcelona Football Club handball team, eventually playing in the Honorary Division until his retirement in the summer of 2000.
His sporting career was marked by the many trophies won by his Club, the Barcelona FC, and his participation in the Spanish handball team on 175 occasions, including the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000 - at the last two of these, the team won the bronze medal - and in the World and European Championships and other international competitions. On 30th November 2001, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Merit in Sports.
While he was a professional handball player, he completed his undergraduate studies. He graduated in Business Administration and Management, specialising in Human Resources, at the University of Barcelona. He was awarded a Master's degree in Business Training and Auditing, as a Development consultant, a B.Sc. in Business Administration and Management, and a Master"s degree in Business Administration from ESADE (Higher School for Business Administration and Management) in Barcelona. He is currently a Director of Telefónica Internacional, as well as Visiting Lecturer at the Business Policy Department at ESADE.
Over the last few years, he has shown a marked interest for social and cultural matters, as well as those related to sport, attempting to build bridges between them. Currently, he is a Director of several social boards of different Spanish and international Foundations, such as the Balia Foundation for children, the Equipara Foundation, and the Eisenhower Fellowships Foundation.
On 4 October 1997, he married HRH the Infanta Cristina in the Basilica Cathedral in Barcelona.
They have four children, Juan Valentín de Todos los Santos, who was born on 29 September 1999; Pablo Nicolás, born on 6 December 2000, Miguel, born on 30 April 2002, and Irene, born on 5 June 2005, all of them in Barcelona.
Official site of the Royal Household of HM the King
The Zarzuela Palace
Madrid (Spain)
