Pilar Urbano Casaña (born 1940) is a Spanish journalist and writer.

Biography

Pilar Urbano was born in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

in 1940. She currently publishes her contributions in the newspaper '' El Mundo''. She is also a numerary member of Opus Dei.

Print journalism

After studying Philosophy and Letters, she soon channeled her professional career into the world of journalism and graduated at the top of her class from the . She has worked, as a political commentator, at the newspapers the ''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

'' (until 1985, where she wrote a periodical column called "Hilo directo"), '' Ya'' (1985–1989), and now in ''El Mundo'' and the magazine '' Época''. In 1994, she was sued for expressing opinions characterized as homophobic in an ''Elle'' magazine article.

Radio and television

In 1988 she collaborated with

Encarna Sánchez Encarna Sánchez (September 19, 1935 – April 5, 1996) was an influential Spanish talk radio host and current events commentator. Generally viewed as a conservative, her views were of great influence on working, middle classes and ruling Governm ...

on her program ' on

Cadena COPE COPE, an acronym for Cadena de Ondas Populares Españolas ("People's Radiowaves of Spain Network") formerly called Radio Popular, is a Spanish language radio station. It is the second most listened to in Spain's generalist radio. Owned by the Sp ...

. On television she did the same with

Jesús Hermida Jesús Hermida Pineda OAXS (27 June 1937 – 4 May 2015) was a Spanish journalist. He worked as a U.S. correspondent for Televisión Española in New York City, New York. Hermida was born Huelva. He died from a stroke in Madrid Madri ...

, collaborating on the political

tertulia A tertulia (, ; pt, tertúlia ; ca, tertúlia ) is a social gathering with literary or artistic overtones, especially in Iberian Peninsula, Iberia or in Spanish America. Tertulia also means an informal meeting of people to talk about current affa ...

of the programs ' (1993) and ' (1994), both on Antena 3. In the 1994–1995 season, she joined the news program ''

Informativos Telecinco ''Informativos Telecinco'' is the news division of the Spanish television broadcaster Telecinco. The newscasts, along with '' Noticias Cuatro'', are produced by Agencia Atlas, a news agency created by Telecinco in 1998. History 1990–1993 When T ...

'', presented by . Later she went on to the program ' on

Onda Cero Onda Cero is a Spanish radio station, a part of Atresmedia media group. It is Spain's third-largest radio station by number of listeners as of 2019. Among its programs are ''Más de Uno,'' ''Julia en la Onda,'' ''La Brújula,'' ''El Transistor,'' ...

(1995–1998), which was led by .

Books

Pilar Urbano has specialized in the publication of books on current affairs, including subjects such as the criminal plot of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

and the 23-F coup attempt in Spain. She was a direct witness to the latter, from the journalists' gallery of the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...

. She was one of the people who remained standing. She later declared: "I had a submachine gun about a hand's breadth from my waist. I did not throw myself to the ground. That afternoon and that night I knew in a definite way that freedom is worth more than life." She has also published two "authorized" biographies of

Queen Sofía Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and Judge

Baltasar Garzón Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a former Spanish judge. Garzón formerly served on Spain's central criminal court, the ''Audiencia Nacional'', and was the examining magistrate of the ''Juzgado Central de Instrucción No. 5'', ...

. In October 2008, the presentation of her book ''La Reina muy de cerca'', published by Editorial Planeta, sparked strong controversy in Spain due to alleged statements by Queen Sofia against euthanasia, abortion, and same-sex marriage. This led to an official statement from the Royal Household in which it was said that Pilar Urbano, "after having a private conversation with Her Majesty the Queen, puts in Her Majesty's mouth alleged claims that some media reproduced today," which "do not correspond exactly to the opinions expressed by Her Majesty the Queen, as the author has been duly informed." Before said statement, the journalist denied that the statements were of a private nature. "I have made a book with the Queen, knowing the Queen, not in the private sphere, but in the Zarzuela", adding that "what the queen has said is what appears in my book" and that the Royal House read and gave the book the "green light".

Works

* ''España cambia la piel: entrevistas políticas'' (1976) * ''Con la venia, yo indagué el 23-F'' (1982) * ''El hombre de Villa Tevere: los años romanos de Josemaría Escrivá'' (1995) * ''Yo entré en el Cesid'' (1996) * ''La Reina'' (1997) * ''Garzón: el hombre que veía amanecer'' (2000) * ''Jefe Atta: el secreto de la Casa Blanca'', Plaza & Janés (2003) * ''La madre del ajusticiado'' (2005) * ''La Reina muy de cerca'' (2008) * ''El precio del trono'' (2011) * ' (2014) * "Pieza 25, salvar a la infanta" (2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Urbano, Pilar 1940 births 20th-century Spanish women writers 21st-century Spanish women writers Living people Opus Dei members People from Valencia Spanish political commentators Spanish radio personalities Spanish television journalists Spanish women journalists Women television journalists