Gaining a foothold on the Forbes list usually means being a billionaire, although another method is becoming one of the most influential Spaniards of the year.
Queen Letizia, shown here with her husband King Felipe VI, heads up Forbes' ranking of 2020's ‘Most Influential Spaniards’
And for 2020, it seems this alone was not enough: You also have to be female.
For the first time ever, Forbes' 'Most Influential Spaniards of the Year' ranking is made up entirely of women – possibly in an attempt to redress the gender balance, given that on both the annual 'rich' and 'influential' lists, men tend to outnumber women quite significantly, or possibly because, in the compilers' view, the 25 names featured really were last year's most 'influential' Spaniards, and the single-gender nature of it was purely accidental.
Queen Letizia sits at number one – the rest are made up of eight politicians, six top-ranking company managers, five journalists, two gallery owners, a singer, a scientist and an activist.
The definition of 'influential' covers a multitude of sins, or virtues: Being a major icon in their field, significant achievements, or simply being one of most talked-about and read-about household names.
HRH Letizia ticks all these boxes; as a journalist and TV news reporter, she covered major events worldwide and, after her master's degree, spent several years working in Guadalajara, México, where she started – although did not finish – a PhD, and was already a familiar face on the late-evening TVE news before her engagement to the then Prince Felipe of Asturias was announced.
Since Princess Letizia became Queen Consort in 2014, she has been actively involved in charity patronage and representation, especially raising the profile of women and all manner of diversity, and promoting fashion and the arts – and bringing up two daughters, Leonor, now 15 and Sofía, who will be 14 in May.
Completing the podium are Ana Patricia Botín, chief executive officer of Banco Santander and described by Forbes as 'one of the most powerful and best-known women on the planet', and Madrid regional government president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, of the right-wing PP party, who is defined as 'one of the most-mentioned persons in political speeches'.
Other politicians
Forbes women in the political arena cover all party colours: Deputy president of the national government, Carmen Calvo, from the centre-left socialist (PSOE), minister for work and pensions Yolanda Díaz, from the leftist Podemos – which governs in coalition with the PSOE, national leader of centre-right party Ciudadanos, Inés Arrimadas, who took over from its creator Albert Rivera when he married prolific pop artist and The Voice coach Malú, State prosecutor Dolores Delgado, an expert in fundamentalist terrorism and partner of one-time human rights judge Baltasar Garzón, Secretary of State for digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas, and also two city mayors.
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