Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo Keynote Speaker

Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo is one of the most controversial and brilliant Spanish politicians, journalists and intellectuals of her generation. Born in Madrid in 1974, she has stood out for her vibrant defense of liberal democracy in the face of its enemies: populism, nationalism, separatism, and identity politics.

A disciple of the eminent British Hispanist Sir John H. Elliott, she holds a BA and a PhD (D.Phil.) from the University of Oxford, which granted her multiple recognitions. Her thesis on Spain and America in the seventeenth century was later translated into Spanish.

As a journalist, she has distinguished herself through intelligent political analysis, incisive interviews with great political and intellectual figures of our time (Steven Pinker, Jordan Peterson, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos…), and her chronicles from challenging territories such as Venezuela, with whose freedom she has shown an iron and active commitment.

It is in politics, however, where Cayetana’s influence has had the greatest impact. She served as a Member of Parliament for Madrid during two legislatures and, from April 2019, for Barcelona. Until August 2020, she was the Speaker in Congress of Spain’s “Partido Popular” (PP).

Her vigorous leadership against populism and nationalism, her audacious denunciation of the evils of contemporary politics, her brilliant defense of modern Enlightenment values, and her commitment to democratic regeneration have earned her a following beyond her party and country. An extraordinary speaker, her parliamentary speeches have gone viral in Spain and Latin America.

A firm defender of the need to fight the cultural battle, Cayetana has proclaimed herself an “Amazon feminist” and has raised her voice against all forms of collectivization and victimhood under the banner of identity, making her a benchmark for many women.

She is also a steadfast democratic activist. In 2014, together with Mario Vargas Llosa and other intellectuals, she founded the civil association Libres e Iguales to defend the Spanish constitutional order. The platform contributed decisively to a massive social mobilization against the Catalan separatist process and continues to serve as an example of intelligence in service of democracy.

Convinced of the responsibility of elites and the enduring validity of Enlightenment values, Cayetana is now working toward the construction of a “New Political Space of Reason” that overcomes outdated ideological categories and brings together democrats from both hemispheres.

She has received numerous recognitions, including the Gibbs Prize for History from the University of Oxford (proxime accessit), the Silver Microphone from the Spanish Association of Press, Radio and Television Journalists, and the Civil Society Prize for Civics.

Cayetana lives in Madrid and has two daughters.