Queen Sofía of Spain

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Sophia
Queen of Spain, Princess of Greece and Denmark
Full name	English: Sophia Margaret Victoria Frederica Spanish: Sofía Margarita Victoria Federica Greek: Σοφία Μαργαρίτα Βικτωρία Φρειδερίκη
Titles	HM The Queen of Spain (1975-) HRH The Princess of Spain (1969-1975) HRH Princess Sofía of Spain (1962-1969) HRH Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark (1938-1962)
Born	November 2, 1938 (1938-11-02) (age 69)
Birthplace	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

Doña Sofía, Queen of Spain (Spanish: Su Majestad la Reina Sofía de España; born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark on November 2, 1938), is the Queen Consort of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.^[1][2]

[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 Greece and her sister Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark. However, since the restoration of democracy, the royal titles are not recognized in Greece.

Princess Sophia spent some of 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 English, French, German, Greek and Spanish.

She represented Greece in sailing at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

[edit] Marriage and family

On May 14, 1962 Princess Sofia 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. Sofia was able to bring a cool realism to the marriage and shifted Juan Carlos from the sphere of influence of his father Don Juan to a more realistic rapproachment with Franco.

In 1969, Prince Juan Carlos, who was never Prince Asturias, the traditional title the heir to the throne, was given the official title of Prince of Spain the Spanish state; this was a title suggested by Sofia herself. Juan Carlos acceded to the throne as Juan Carlos I in 1975.

Styles of Queen Sofía of Spain
Reference style	Her Majesty
Spoken style	Your Majesty
Alternative style	Ma'am

The couple have three children: HRH Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo born December 20, 1963, HRH Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca born June 13, 1965, and HRH Felipe, Prince of Asturias born January 30, 1968. The King and Queen have eight grandchildren, four boys and four girls: Felipe and Victoria from the Infanta Elena; Juan, Pablo, Miguel and Irene from the Infanta Cristina; and Infanta Leonor, and Infanta Sofía, named in her honor, of Prince Felipe; all of whom are in the line of succession to the Spanish Throne.

[edit] Ancestry

Queen Sofía is both a great-great-granddaughter (paternally) and a great-great-great-granddaughter (maternally) of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom 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 also related 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] Ancestors

[edit] Royal duties

Spanish Royal Family

HM The King HM The Queen HRH The Prince of Asturias HRH The Princess of Asturias HRH Infanta Leonor HRH Infanta Sofía HRH The Duchess of Lugo HRH The Duchess of Palma de Mallorca HRH The Duchess of Badajoz HRH The Duchess of Soria HRH The Duke of Calabria HRH The Duchess of Calabria

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 Herzegovina, 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 "Village Bank"), which offers microcredits to women across the world. Her Majesty has travelled to Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador 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 (Bogotá), Valladolid, Cambridge, Oxford, Georgetown, Evora, St. Mary's University, Texas, and New York.

[edit] Titles, honours and arms

[edit] Titles

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] Spanish honours

•  Spain
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III.
  • Lady of the Order of Maria Luisa

El most honourable Bilderberger, 2008

[edit] Foreign honours

•  Thailand Order of the Royal House of Chakri
•  Netherlands Order of the Netherlands Lion
•  Denmark Order of the Elephant
•  Norway Order of St. Olav
•  Sweden Order of the Seraphim
•  Belgium Order of Leopold
•  Brazil Order of the Southern Cross
•  France Order of the Legion of Honour
•  Germany Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
•  Greece Order of St. Olga and St. Sophia
•  Iceland Order of the Falcon

The personal coat of arms of HM Sofia, Queen of Spain. It contains the coat of arms of Kingdom of Greece (right).

[edit] Arms

The personal coat of arms of the Queen impales ^[3] the Spanish Royal Arms (her husband's shield) to the dexter (viewer's left) with her parent’s shield, the arms of King Paul of Greece – Azure a cross argent; inescutcheon, the coat of arms of Denmark as used when George I became king of Greece and showing the dynastic link to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg dynasty; a shield containing a cross argent fimbriated gules from the Danish flag and subcoats representing Denmark, Schleswig, the former Kalmar Union, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Holstein, Stormarn, Dithmarschen, Lauenburg, Oldenburg, Delmenhorst, and the former Danish royal titles of King of the Wends and Goths.^[4]

All surmounted by the Spanish Royal Crown (Crown's arches differenced as consort) and surrounded by the ribbon of the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III.

The Queen's coat of arms has no official status. In Spain only the coats of arms of the King and the Prince of Asturias are official.^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website of the Spanish Royal Family
• Official website of the Queen Sofia Foundation
• Queen Sofia Family Tree