Queen Sofia of Spain - Revision history

Lazarus at 01:43, October 7, 2010

2010-10-07T01:43:25Z

Lazarus at 13:13, October 4, 2010

2010-10-04T13:13:58Z

Irlandos: Queen Sofía of Spain moved to Queen Sofia of Spain: eliminate accent

2006-07-02T21:30:14Z

Queen Sofía of Spain moved to Queen Sofia of Spain: eliminate accent

Irlandos: /* Early life and family */

2006-04-13T07:36:07Z

Early life and family

Irlandos at 07:35, April 13, 2006

2006-04-13T07:35:31Z

New page

'''Queen Sofía''' (née Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), born '''Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark''', is the queen consort of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

==Early life and family==
She was born in [[Athens]], [[Greece]] on [[November 2]], [[1938]], the eldest child of the [[King of the Hellenes]], [[Paul of Greece|Paul I]] ([[1901]]-[[1964]]) and his wife, the former [[Queen Frederika|Frederika]], Princess of [[Hanover (state)|Hanover]] ([[1917]]-[[1981]]). Both her parents were descendants of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and despite her country of birth, the family tree on both sides is almost exclusively German and Danish in origin. The Greek royal house is a cadet branch of the Danish royal family of [[Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg]], which is itself a branch of the [[House of Oldenburg]]. Her brother is former [[King Constantine II]] of [[Greece]] and her sister is [[Irene of Greece]].

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. Her Majesty speaks Spanish, [[Greek language|Greek]], German, French and English.

==Marriage and family==

On [[May 14]], [[1962]] she married Don Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón Dos Sicilias, Prince of Spain and 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 [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodoxy]]. The couple have three children: Infanta Elena born [[December 20]], [[1963]], Infanta Cristina born [[June 13]], [[1965]] and Prince Felipe born [[January 30]], [[1968]].

==Ancestry==

Through her mother, Sophia is a great-great granddaughter of the United Kingdom's Queen Victoria and is, through several lines, a distant cousin of her husband. Because of this, she is also related to all of the royal families of Europe.

==Royal duties==
The Queen of Spain 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, traveling 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.

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 and New York.

== Titles from birth ==
Here is a list of titles Queen Sophia held from birth in chronological order :

* Her Royal Highness The Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark (1938-1962)
* Her Royal Highness Princess Sofia of Spain (1962-1975)
* Her Majesty The Queen of Spain (Since 1975)

==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 so left enchanted by the Rattan Living Room (known as ''Salon Ratán'' in Spanish), that the room officially was renamed in her honor and remains so to this very day (''La Galeria de la Reina'', or in English, ''The Queen's Gallery''). [http://www.fortaleza.gobierno.pr/fortaleza/fortaleza_foto_13.htm]

As a matrilineal relative of Nicholas II of Russia, she and all her children are of mitochondrial haplogroup T.

==External links==
*[http://www.casareal.es/index.jsp Official website of the Spanish Royal Family]
*[http://www.fundacionreinasofia.es/index.jsp Official website of the Queen Sofia Foundation]

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:1938 births|Sofía of Spain]]
[[Category:House of Glücksburg|Sofía of Spain]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:43, October 7, 2010
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← Older revision		Revision as of 13:13, October 4, 2010
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	[[Category:1938 births\|Sofía of Spain]]		[[Category:1938 births\|Sofía of Spain]]
−	[[Category:House of ~~Glücksburg~~\|Sofía of Spain]]	+	[[Category:House of Glucksburg\|Sofía of Spain]]

← Older revision	Revision as of 21:30, July 2, 2006
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 ==Early life and family==
-She was born in [[Athens]], [[Greece]] on [[November 2]], [[1938]], the eldest child of the [[King of the Hellenes]], [[Paul of Greece|Paul I]] ([[1901]]-[[1964]]) and his wife, the former [[Queen Frederika|Frederika]], Princess of [[Hanover (state)|Hanover]] ([[1917]]-[[1981]]). Both her parents were descendants of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and despite her country of birth, the family tree on both sides is almost exclusively German and Danish in origin. The Greek royal house is a cadet branch of the Danish royal family of [[Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg]], which is itself a branch of the [[House of Oldenburg]]. Her brother is former [[King Constantine II]] of [[Greece]] and her sister is [[Irene of Greece]].
+She was born in [[Athens]], [[Greece]] on [[November 2]], [[1938]], the eldest child of the [[King of the Hellenes]], [[Paul of Greece|Paul I]] ([[1901]]-[[1964]]) and his wife, the former [[Queen Frederika|Frederika]], Princess of Hanover ([[1917]]-[[1981]]). Both her parents were descendants of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and despite her country of birth, the family tree on both sides is almost exclusively German and Danish in origin. The Greek royal house is a cadet branch of the Danish royal family of [[Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg]], which is itself a branch of the House of Oldenburg. Her brother is former [[King Constantine II]] of [[Greece]] and her sister is [[Irene of Greece]].
 ==Marriage and family==