Royal's sister loses 'right to privacy'

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The sister of Spanish Crown Princess Letizia, it seems, is a celebrity whether she likes it or not.

A judge rejected a request from Telma Ortiz for a restraining order barring media outlets from filming her, arguing Thursday that she is a public figure despite her wishes.

Ortiz, 35, had argued she was not a celebrity and said news organizations have been harassing her and her companion, Enrique Martin Llop.

This week she sued about 50 news outlets in a case being heard in the central city of Toledo. The media organizations included major TV channels and gossip magazines such as Hola!

But Judge Maria Lourdes Perez Padilla said a restraining order would be "legally unviable" because Ortiz and Martin Llop were in the limelight, even if they claimed otherwise.

The judge ordered them to pay undisclosed court costs.

Ortiz's problems with the Spanish gossip media began early this year when she returned from the Philippines, where she had been employed as an aid worker, to have a baby in Spain with Martin Llop.

Ortiz said the media had invaded their privacy repeatedly.

In previous cases, Spanish celebrities have tended to sue a particular news outlet over publication of a specific photo or piece of footage.

But in this case, Ortiz sought a blanket ban on news organizations publishing photos or footage of her, except ones in which she appeared at official functions in her role as sister of the crown princess. Such appearances are rare.

Ortiz is the middle sister of three, and Letizia is the eldest. The youngest, Erika, died in February 2007 in what was widely believed to have been a suicide.

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