Queen Sofía of Spain Biography

Queen Sofía of Spain was born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark, on November 2, 1938, at Tatoi Palace in Acharnes, Athens, Greece. She was the eldest child of King Paul of Greece and his wife, Queen Frederica (Frederica of Hanover). Her mother was one of the granddaughters of Wilhelm II, the last Emperor of Germany, while Sofía’s father was son of King Constantine I.

Sofía was part of the Greek branch of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg dynasty. Her brother grew up to be King Constantine II and was later deposed, while her sister is Princess Irene.

Sofía spent much of her childhood in Egypt and then moved to South Africa, as she and her family were exiled during World War II. She initially studied in El Nasr Girls' College (EGC) in Alexandria, Egypt. Following her return to Greece in 1946, she completed her education at the Schloss Salem boarding school in Southern Germany.

After her preliminary education, she studied childcare, archaeology, and music in Athens. She then attended the Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, part of the University of Cambridge. During the 1960 Summer Olympics, held in Rome, Italy, she and her brother Constantine were both reserve members of the Greek gold medal-winning sailing team.

Sofía married Juan Carlos of Spain on May 14, 1962, at the Catholic Cathedral of Saint Dionysius in Athens. She had first met him in1954, while on a cruise in the Greek Islands. He was Sofía’s paternal third cousin.

Following her marriage, Sofía converted to Catholicism from Greek Orthodoxy. She also gave up her rights to the Greek throne, though the Greek monarchy was dismantled in 1973. The royal couple’s wedding consisted of three ceremonies: a Catholic and a Greek Orthodox wedding, respectively, followed by a civil union.

On December 20, 1963, they had their first child, Princess Elena. In June 1965, they had their second daughter, Cristina. In January 1968, the couple their third child, their son Felipe. Sofía became the Queen Consort of Spain when Juan Carlos took over as King Juan Carlos I of Spain on November 22, 1975.

Felipe got engaged to newsreader Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano in November 2003 and then married her in May 2004. By the birth of their daughters Leonor (2005) and Sofía (2007), the couple’s relationship with Felipe’s mother, Sofía, had soured. Felipe took over as King Felipe VI of Spain on June 19, 2014, after the abdication of his father.

Amid speculations that the relationship between Sofía and her daughter in law, Letizia, had soured, the two ladies apparently clashed publicly, when the entire royal family attended Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca in 2018.

Sofía was getting ready to have her photo taken with her grandchildren Leonor and Sofía when Letizia apparently stood between them and the cameras and tried removing Sofía's hand from her daughter Sofía’s shoulder. The two ladies then had a verbal argument, before Felipe stepped in. It was believed, their relationship had deteriorated to such an extent that Letizia's mother, Paloma Rocasolano, would often stay in the palace and take care of Letizia’s daughters when Letizia and Felipe traveled.

In late 2020, Juan Carlos relocated to an undisclosed country, away from Spain, because of increased media pressure about his business activities in Saudi Arabia. On August 17, 2020, the royal family stated Carlos was in the UAE.

Sofía publicly reunited with King Felipe, Queen Letizia, and her granddaughters for the first time since Juan Carlos I’s exile, at the 2020 Princesa de Asturias Awards at the Reconquista Hotel in Oviedo, Spain. In August 2022, Sofía and Letizia were seen happily posing for photos at the family's annual summer holiday in Palma de Mallorca.

There were also rumors of Juan Carlos’s extra-marital affair with Monaco-based German businesswoman Corinna Larsen, which had apparently strained Juan Carlos and Sofía’s marriage. Later, leaked conversations between former Spanish police chief José Manuel Villarejo and Larsen proved she had information regarding the king and his business decisions. However, Sofía remained calm through it all.

By the time Constantine became King Constantine II of Greece in 1964, Sofía was already married to Juan Carlos of Spain. Even as the Queen Consort of Spain later, she engaged in a wide variety of interests and supported many charitable initiatives. She has been actively involved with causes related to the environment, international cooperation, medicine, and micro-financing.

Most of the charities she supports help people with drug addiction or those struggling with poverty. In May 1977, she launched the Queen Sofía Foundation in Madrid, which stressed on the importance of food banks when an economic crisis hit Europe. She also backs causes such as research on dementia, social welfare, and empowering women entrepreneurs.

Her foundation has an Alzheimer’s center with over 150 patients and a forensic lab. She has also served the Queen Sofía Music School as its Honorary President.

Queen Sofía has also worked with UNICEF on multiple occasions, taking over as the Honorary President of the Spanish UNICEF Committee in 1971. She has worked with the Grameen Bank and has traveled to places such as Chile, Colombia, Bangladesh, Mexico, and El Salvador to promote access of microcredits to women. She has supported NGOs battling child prostitution in Cambodia and has traveled to survey the development of Philippine Spanish colonies too.

She has been part of the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute, which was named in her honor in 2003. She is an active patron of the institute that was founded in May 1954 and is focused on stimulating Spanish culture and language in the US.

Sofía has been named an Honorary Member of both the Spanish Royal Academy of History and the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. She has also been awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Rosario (Bogotá), Evora, and New York, among others. Her countless honors include The Order of the Queen of Sheeba (Ethiopia), The Grand Cross of The Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III, and The Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa.