The Prince Diaries? The crazy story of a Spanish soccer player who became an Indonesian prince

Born in Spain, in the Catalan town of Canet de Mar, in 1992, Jordi Amat is a professional footballer whose career developed in LaLiga, playing for Espanyol, Rayo Vallecano and Betis, and in other European leagues (in Wales for Swansea and Belguim's KAS Eupen). While that's an impressive resume, he also has another high-profile role – as Crown Prince of Indonesia, no less.

Much like the character played by US actress Anne Hathaway in the movie "The Princess Diaries" Jordi Amat became the Prince of Indonesia overnight. His maternal grandmother is a direct descendant of the King of Siau – one of the most important territories of Indonesia.

His maternal grandmother always urged him to take into account his royal status. Born in the Indonesian city of Macassar but emigrated as a child due to the war, he went to live first in The Netherlands and before settling in Spain.

He has never shied away from his roots and even posted images with his royal family. This smiling lady portrayed in the photo is Jordi Amat's blue-blooded grandmother, with whom the footballer proudly poses on his social networks.

Photo: Instagram (@jordiamat5)

Jordi Amat holds the title of Pangeran ("prince"), an Indonesian noble title that is inherited and which, in his case, dates back to his maternal great-great-grandfather.

The ancestor of the Spanish footballer was none other than the Rajah of Siau, a title which is equivalent to that of king in the Asian country.

Jordi Amat claimed his noble rights and as of July 1, 2022 his lineage has been officially confirmed by the Royal Council of the Sultanate of Nusantara. All the details were reported in a recent article in 'La Voz de Galicia', which includes statements made by Amat on the title.

And here is the official title that accredits him as the prince of Indonesia. The footballer used his Instagram account (@jordiamat5) to confirm this, showing the document and thanking all those who supported him and helped him rediscover his origins.

A December 2022 article published in the Indonesian newspaper Koran Manado reveals that the footballer intends to buy a house in Indonesia and settle there with his family. A radical sea change.

But let's start from the beginning, because before discovering Jordi Amat's noble origins, the footballer had really made a name for himself on the pitch.

As a child he played for CF Canet de Mar, his hometown club in Spain; subsequently, he began playing professionally in the Espanyol youth team where he developed as a player.

He made his debut in the Espanyol B team in the 2009-2010 season. With a shortage of players in the first team on 29 January 2010 he was called up by the coach of the top side, Mauricio Pochettino, to play a match in the Spanish league against Mallorca. He was only 17.

A few days later, he was asked to do the same against none other than Real Madrid, this time at their imposing home ground, the Santiago Bernabéu stadium.

Af this, he was a continuous feature in the Espanyol first team, which led him to officially sign with the top side on 31 December 2011.

He didn't get too comfortable though, as he was loaned to Rayo Vallecano in the 2012-2013 season, where the center-back scored his only goal to date a goal that became the 600th of the Madrid team.

The footballer then spent a period in the English second division, playing for Welsh club Swansea City, with whom he signed for four seasons between 2013 and 2018.

In 2017 he returned to play in the Spanish league on loan to Betis and, subsequently, to Rayo Vallecano, with whom he signed a contract for four seasons (2018-2022), although in August 2019 Rayo Vallecano loaned him to the Belgian team KAS Eupen, where he played until 2022.

In 2022 he signed with Indonesian team Johor Darul Takzim FC, with whom he reached the round of 16 of the AFC Champions League – the Asian equivalent of the UEFA Champions League in his first season.

One of his dreams was to play for the Indonesian national team, so he decided to naturalize in November 2022. "The process seems to have taken longer than expected, but in the end it only took a year. Other teammates, for example, it took them seven years to get naturalized," Jordi Amat told Spanish sports newspaper Marca.

He finally managed to debut for the Indonesian national team in December 2022, in a match against Cambodia of the AFF Cup, in which the Southeast Asian national teams play.

In Spain, he played in all the lower categories of the national football team (U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20 and U-21), but not in the senior one, which he did instead in his new country.

The first thing he did after naturalization was to perfect his linguistic knowledge in order to be able to relate better with his fellow citizens, as well as learning about the customs and traditions of Indonesia and of the island of which he is a prince.

While we might have noblemen in the game with the likes of Maradona, Pele and Messi. There's so far only one true royal – Jordi Amat.