Mariano Rajoy Brey is a Spanish politician and former property registrar who served as Prime Minister of Spain from December 2011 to June 2018.
Born on 27 March 1955 in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, he is the eldest son of jurist and magistrate Mariano Rajoy Sobredo, who later became president of the Provincial Court of Pontevedra, and Olga Brey López.
Raised in a traditional, well-off Galician family with strong legal roots, his paternal grandfather, Enrique Rajoy Leloup, helped draft the 1936 Statute of Autonomy of Galicia, Rajoy studied law at the University of Santiago de Compostela, graduating in the late 1970s.
In 1978 or 1979, at the age of 23 or 24, he passed the highly competitive examinations to become a property registrar.
After leaving politics, he has maintained a relatively low public profile while occasionally appearing in media or personal activities such as walking sections of the Camino de Santiago.
Siblings
Mariano is the eldest of four siblings, all of whom followed paths in the legal professions that reflected the family’s juridical tradition.
The four children of Mariano Rajoy Sobredo and Olga Brey López grew up largely in Pontevedra after earlier moves linked to their father’s judicial postings.
The siblings were María de las Mercedes Rajoy Brey, Luis Rajoy Brey, and Enrique Rajoy Brey.
Mercedes, two years younger than Mariano, also became a property registrar and worked in locations including Getafe and later Madrid.
She married Francisco José Millán Mon, a diplomat, university friend of Mariano, and longtime People’s Party Member of the European Parliament; the couple had three children.
Mercedes died suddenly in December 2019 at the age of 62, apparently of a heart attack, at her home in Madrid.
Luis Rajoy Brey pursued a career as a notary and practiced in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. He also served as president of the Real Club Náutico de Sangenjo for several years.
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Luis died in March 2014 at the age of 55 after battling cancer. Enrique Rajoy Brey, the youngest, was born in León in 1960.
Like his eldest brother and sister, he became a property registrar and ranked as the second-youngest person in Spanish history to do so.
He has lived a notably private life, with connections to Sangenjo (Sanxenxo) in Galicia, and remains the only surviving sibling besides Mariano.
The four were known for their close bond; the siblings provided personal support to Mariano during political setbacks, such as the 2008 election defeat, and celebrated his 2011 absolute-majority victory together.
Career
After qualifying as a property registrar, Rajoy entered politics in the early 1980s with Alianza Popular, the precursor to the People’s Party (Partido Popular, PP).
He was elected as a regional deputy in Galicia and later served as vice-president of the regional government.
Following the refounding of the PP under Manuel Fraga, he rose through national ranks.
From 1996 to 2004, under Prime Minister José María Aznar, he held successive ministerial posts: Minister of Public Administration, Minister of Education and Culture, Minister of the Interior, and Minister of the Presidency, while also serving as government spokesperson and first deputy prime minister at points.
In 2003 Aznar designated him as successor; Rajoy became PP leader in 2004 and Leader of the Opposition.
After electoral defeats in 2004 and 2008, the PP won a landslide victory in the 2011 general election amid the European sovereign-debt crisis, and Rajoy became Prime Minister with the largest parliamentary majority in nearly three decades.
His government focused on economic austerity, labor-market reforms, and bank restructuring.
He won re-election in 2016 after a period of political deadlock but was removed from office in June 2018 by a successful motion of no confidence, the first such removal of a Spanish prime minister since the restoration of democracy.
He stepped down as PP leader shortly afterward and left front-line politics.
Accolades
Nationally, Rajoy was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III in 2003 and the Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic in 2018.
Abroad, he received the Sash of Special Category of the Order of the Aztec Eagle from Mexico, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Chile, and the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ from Portugal.
He has also been granted an honorary doctorate in law by Sergio Arboleda University in Bogotá, Colombia, among other recognitions.
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