Queen Sofía of Spain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sofia of Greece and Denmark | ||
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| Queen of Spain | ||
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| Titles | HM The Queen of Spain (1975-) HRH Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark (1938-1962) | |
| Born | November 2 1938 (age 71) | |
| Athens, Greece | ||
| Consort | November 22, 1975 - present | |
| Consort to | Juan Carlos I | |
| Issue | Infanta Elena, Infanta Cristina, Prince Felipe | |
| Royal House | House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg | |
| Father | Paul I of Greece | |
| Mother | Frederika of Hanover | |
Sofía, Queen of Spain (Sophia Margarita Victoria Frederika), born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark, is the Queen Consort of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
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[edit] Early life and family
Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark was born in Athens, Greece on November 2, 1938, the eldest child of the King Paul I of the Hellenes (1901-1964) and his wife, Queen Frederika (1917-1981), a former princess of Hanover. Queen Sofia is a member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg dynasty. Her brother is King Constantine II of the Hellenes, and her sister is Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark.
Princess Sophia spent her childhood in Egypt and South Africa during her family's exile from Greece during World War II. They returned to Greece in 1946. She finished her education at the prestigious Schloss Salem boarding school in Southern Germany, and then studied pediatrics, music, and archeology in Athens.
The Queen is fluent in Spanish, Greek, German, French, and English.
She represented Greece in sailing at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
[edit] Marriage and family
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On May 14, 1962 Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark married Prince Juan Carlos of Spain, the future king, whom she met on a cruise of the Greek islands in 1954. In doing so, she relinquished her rights to the throne of Greece and converted to Roman Catholicism from Greek Orthodoxy. Further, the Latin transliteration of her Greek name Σοφία was changed from Sophia to the Spanish variant Sofía, which nonetheless is pronounced identically to the original Greek version. In 1969, Prince Juan Carlos, who was never Prince of Asturias, the traditional title of the heir to the throne, was given the official title of Prince of Spain by the Spanish state; he acceded to the throne as Juan Carlos I in 1975.
The couple have three children: Infanta Elena born December 20, 1963, Infanta Cristina born June 13, 1965, and Prince Felipe born January 30, 1968.
The King and Queen have seven grandchildren: Felipe Juan Froilán and Victoria Federica from the Infanta Elena; Juan Valentín, Pablo Nicolás, Miguel and Irene from the Infanta Cristina; and HRH Infanta Leonor, the only child of Prince Felipe and second in line to the Spanish throne.
[edit] Ancestry
Through her parents, Queen Sofía is a great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria and is, through several lines, her husband's third cousin. Because of this descent, she is also related to all of the royal families of Europe. She is a first cousin of Ernst August of Hannover (Pretender), and through her great-grandfather George I of Greece, she is a second cousin to Charles, the Prince of Wales. Through Christian IX of Denmark and Queen Victoria, she is a double third cousin to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. She is also a first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
[edit] Royal duties
Besides travelling with her husband within Spain and abroad, the Queen has her own agenda. She is the executive president of the Queen Sofía Foundation, which in 1993 sent funds for relief in Bosnia, and is the honorary president of the Royal Board on Education and Care of Handicapped Persons and the Foundation for Aid for Drug Addicts. She takes special interest in programs against drug addiction, travelling to conferences in both Spain and abroad. The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is named after her, as is Reina Sofía Airport in Tenerife.
She has been working closely with Dr. Muhammed Yunus on his Grameen Bank (or "Bank for the Poor"), which offers microcredits to women across the world. Her Majesty has travelled to Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico to support the activities of the organization led by Yunus.
The Queen is an Honorary Member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts and of the Royal Academy of History. She has received Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Rosario (Bogota), Valladolid, Cambridge, Oxford, Georgetown, Evora, St. Mary's University, Texas, and New York.
| Styles of Queen Sofia of Spain | |
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| Image:Escudo de España.svg | |
| Reference style | Her Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
[edit] Titles from birth
Here is a list of titles Queen Sofía held from birth in chronological order :
- Her Royal Highness Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark (1938-1962)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Sofía of Spain (1962-1969)
- Her Royal Highness The Princess of Spain (1969-1975)
- Her Majesty The Queen of Spain (1975-present)
[edit] Trivia
She is a pescetarian (a vegetarian who eats fish), which is a rather uncommon custom in Spain. She also does not watch bullfighting, in contrast with her husband, who is an aficionado.
When she and King Juan Carlos I made their first official state visit to Puerto Rico in 1987, after taking a tour of the governor's mansion La Fortaleza, she was left so enchanted by the Rattan Room (known as Salón Ratán in Spanish), that the room officially was renamed in her honor as La Galería de la Reina (The Queen's Gallery). <ref>Salón Ratán o Galería de la Reina</ref>
She and her husband hold the title of Catholic Monarchs, which enables her to wear white, rather than normal black, in the presence of the Pope.
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
| Vacant Title last held by Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg | Queen Consort of Spain 1975–Present | Incumbent |
ca:Sofia de Grècia (reina d'Espanya) de:Sophia von Griechenland el:Βασίλισσα Σοφία της Ισπανίας es:Sofía de Grecia fi:Sofía fr:Sofía de Grèce it:Sofia, Regina di Spagna nl:Sophie van Griekenland no:Sofia av Spania pl:Zofia Glücksburg pt:Sofia da Grécia ru:София Греческая и Ганноверская, королева Испании sv:Sophia av Grekland
Categories: Articles lacking sources from December 2005 | All articles lacking sources | 1938 births | Living people | People from Athens | Greek royalty | House of Glücksburg | House of Bourbon | Spanish queen consorts | Spanish people | Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge | Polyglots | Greek-Spaniards
