Pilar Urbano

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

Pilar Urbano
1979
Born
Pilar Urbano Casaña

1940 (age 80–81)
Valencia, Spain
Alma materOfficial School of Journalism
OccupationJournalist, writer
Employer
OrganizationOpus Dei

Biography

Pilar Urbano was born in Valencia in 1940. She currently publishes her contributions in the newspaper El Mundo. She is also a numerary member of Opus Dei.[1]

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 Official School of Journalism.[2]

She has worked, as a political commentator, at the newspapers the ABC (until 1985, where she wrote a periodical column called "Hilo directo"),[3] 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.[4]

Radio and television
Pilar Urbano speaking at a conference

In 1988 she collaborated with Encarna Sánchez on her program Directamente Encarna on Cadena COPE.[5] On television she did the same with Jesús Hermida, collaborating on the political tertulia of the programs La noche de Hermida (1993) and Hermida y Cía (1994), both on Antena 3.

In the 1994–1995 season, she joined the news program Informativos Telecinco, presented by Carmen Tomás.

Later she went on to the program La Brújula on Onda Cero (1995–1998), which was led by Ernesto Sáenz de Buruaga.

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 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. 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."[6]

She has also published two "authorized" biographies of Queen Sofía and Judge Baltasar Garzón.[7]

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."[8]

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",[9] 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".[9]

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)
  • La gran desmemoria. Lo que Suárez olvidó y el Rey prefiere no recordar (2014)[1]
  • "Pieza 25, salvar a la infanta" (2017)

References
  1. Oneto, José (11 April 2014). "Pilar Urbano, el Opus, la desmemoria y el relato ficción". Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  2. Coll Gilabert, Antonio (1981). De profesión periodista [On the Journalist Profession] (in Spanish). Editorial Noguer. p. 209. ISBN 9788427938649. Retrieved 19 August 2018 – via Google Books.
  3. León Gross, Teodoro (1 January 1996). El artículo de opinión [The Opinion Article] (in Spanish). Ariel. p. 118. ISBN 9788434412736. Retrieved 19 August 2018 – via Google Books.
  4. Alas, Leopoldo (12 June 1994). "A la caza" [Hunting]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid. Archived from the original on 6 November 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  5. "La nueva programación de la COPE refuerza sus espacios de fin de semana" [COPE's New Program Reinforces its Weekend Shows]. El País (in Spanish). Madrid. 9 October 1988. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  6. Pereda, Rosa Maria (28 July 1982). "Mingote presenta 'Con la venia... yo indagué el 23-F', de Pilar Urbano". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  7. "Garzón, un juez lleno de éxitos y de polémicas" [Garzón, a Judge Full of Successes and Controversies]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid. 26 March 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  8. "La Reina tacha de 'inexactas' sus polémicas palabras publicadas en un libro" [The Queen Dismisses Her Controversial Words Published in a Book as 'Inaccurate']. El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid. 1 November 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  9. "Pilar Urbano: 'Lo que ha dicho la reina es lo que aparece en mi libro'" [Pilar Urbino: 'What the Queen Has Said is What Appears in My Book']. Público (in Spanish). 30 October 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
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