Letizia Ortiz, 32, married Crown Prince Felipe, 37, in May last year, shortly after the Madrid train bombings.

The baby, due in November, will be second in line to the throne after the prince, who is King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia's only son.

The palace said the King and Queen wish "to express their great happiness".

Constitution change

If the child is a girl, she will be in line to the throne after any sons that Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia might have in the future.

Under the Spanish constitution, the eldest male automatically succeeds, even if he has an older sister.

However, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged to change the law, saying it discriminates against female royals.

SPANISH ROYAL COUPLE


Letizia Ortiz, 32, divorced and former TV anchorwoman
Crown Prince Felipe, 37, heir to throne
Letizia Ortiz first ever commoner in line to be queen
First Spanish-born future queen in a century

The couple took Spain by surprise when they announced their engagement in November 2003.

The crown prince's romance with a woman who was a well-known television presenter and a divorcee had been kept a secret.

They had met at a dinner party during the previous year.

King Carlos said the pregnancy was "great news".

Prince Felipe's sister, Princess Cristina, the second daughter of King Carlos and Queen Sofia, is also pregnant and expected to have her fourth child at the beginning of the summer.

MADRID (Reuters) - Princess Letizia, the future Queen of Spain, is pregnant with her first child who will be born in November, the Royal Palace said on Sunday.

A glamorous former television presenter, Letizia Ortiz, 32, married Crown Prince Felipe, 37, on May 22 last year, and news of a pregnancy has been eagerly awaited in Spain.

"The Prince and Princess of Asturias are delighted to announce they are expecting the birth of their first child next November," the Palace said in a brief statement.

"Their Majesties the King and Queen wish to express their great happiness at this joyful announcement."

Felipe, two metres (6 ft 7 ins) tall, dark and blue-eyed, married elegant divorcee Ortiz in a fairytale wedding that symbolised a new dawn for Spain just over two months after the March 11 Madrid train bombings.

The prince has since spoken of 2004 as the saddest and happiest year in his life -- sadness at the deaths of 191 people in the train attacks, and happiness at his marriage to the woman he loved.

Ortiz had married her former literature teacher in a civil wedding in the late 1990s and divorced him a year later.

A massive majority of Spaniards approved her marriage to the heir to the throne in Madrid's Almudena Cathedral, showing how liberal the traditionally Catholic country has become since the iron rule of dictator Francisco Franco ended in 1975.

Divorce was illegal in Spain until 1981.

LETIZIA FEVER

Spaniards have been gripped by Letizia fever ever since the couple announced their engagement in November 2003 and since the glittering wedding, pictures of the newly-weds have dominated the covers of Spanish magazines.

After Sunday's announcement, all national media immediately switched to blanket coverage of the royal pregnancy, with state radio broadcasting full biographies of Felipe and Letizia to the sound of romantic piano music.

Even television coverage of the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, due to take place later on Sunday, was taken over by excitement at the news. Anchors converged on King Juan Carlos when he arrived at the course to ask him about it.

"All the family is very happy, my grandchildren are saying they're going to have a new cousin, so it's all wonderful," the king said.

If the royal couple were to have a girl, she could be the first Spanish princess to have the same right as a boy to accede to the throne, under a plan announced by the Socialist government in March.

While not banning women from the throne as Japan does, Spain gives precedence to the male line. The government is seeking an opinion on a possible change to the rule from the State Council -- a body made up of elder statesmen, former ministers, judges and civil servants.

There is no suggestion that Felipe would step aside in favour of his two older sisters, but a change would affect his children.

Felipe's elder sisters Elena and Cristina have five children between them -- four of them boys -- and one on the way.

At the official announcement of his engagement, Felipe was asked how many children he wanted.

"Well, we can't say with complete certainty. The intention is perhaps more than two and fewer than five," he answered, to the apparent astonishment of his fiancee.