Sophia of Greece
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Sophia von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (born November 2, 1938 in Athens , Greece ), full name: Sophia Margarita Victoria Friederika von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Hanover, Duchess of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Princess of Greece and Denmark , Sofía de Grecia in Spanish , was Queen of Spain from November 22, 1975 until the abdication of her husband King Juan Carlos I on June 18, 2014 .
Life
childhood and education
She is the first child of the royal couple Paul I of Greece and Friederike von Hanover and is therefore a great-granddaughter of Emperor Friedrich III on her father's side . and on her mother's side a great-granddaughter of Friedrich's son Kaiser Wilhelm II. Like her husband, she is also the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria . Sophia herself comes from the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg family , a line of the Oldenburg family , and speaks fluent German.
The former queen spent parts of her childhood in Alexandria, Egypt and South Africa because her family had to flee the German occupation of Greece during World War II . She returned to her homeland in 1946 and completed her four-year training at the German boarding school in Salem . She then studied music and archeology at the University of Athens, among other things .
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SM el Rey Don Felipe VI. |
marriage and family
On May 14, 1962, in the Cathedral of St. Dionysius Areopagita in Athens , she married the Spanish heir to the throne Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón in an arranged marriage and gave birth to three children in the following years: Elena , Duchess of Lugo, on December 20, 1963; the Infanta Cristina on June 13, 1965 and Felipe , as Felipe VI. today's King of Spain on January 30, 1968. She has eight grandchildren. Her brother Constantine was King of Greece from 1964 to 1974.
Since her husband's abdication as king in 2014, she has been living apart from him, according to reports in the Spanish press. The relationship with her daughter-in-law Letizia is considered tense.
Queen Sofía is not involved in the alleged illegal financial machinations of her husband that caused Juan Carlos to leave the country in early August 2020. She has not left Spain, but will continue to live in the Palacio de la Zarzuela near Madrid and pursue her duties.
Tasks and interests
Sophia of Greece was an active athlete in her youth. As a 22-year-old she took part in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome as a substitute for the Greek sailing team.
As a member of the Spanish royal family, she devotes herself to social matters in addition to her official representative duties. Among other things, she is President of the Fundación Reina Sofía, named after her. The Museo Reina Sofía , the National Museum of Modern Art in Madrid, is named after her. She is also involved in international development projects to promote women in rural areas and to support micro-businesses through microcredits .
In February 2014, her husband, then King Juan Carlos, announced that he had set fixed annual salaries for his family members for the first time. For 2014, Sofía received a basic gross salary of 63,000 euros plus 69,000 euros for representation costs. Until then, the king had not published the donations in detail and had estimated them according to the number of public appearances of his relatives. As a justification for the new regulation, he explained that the new system was more transparent. As in the previous year, the king himself received a total of 293,000 euros according to the budget; his son, then Crown Prince Felipe, € 146,000. The total budget of the royal family was 7.8 million euros in 2014, two percent less than in the previous year, without including costs for business trips, vehicles, security measures and building maintenance. By publishing salaries, the Court wanted to set a good example before a new Politicians Transparency Act came into force .
National emblem
Queen Sophia monogram
predicate
- Her Royal Highness Princess Sophia of Greece (1938–1962)
- ( Spanish : Su Alteza Real la Princesa Doña Sofía de Grecia )
- Her Royal Highness Princess Sophia of Spain (1962–1969)
- (Spanish: Su Alteza Real la Princesa Doña Sofía de España )
- Her Royal Highness the Princess of Spain (1969–1975)
- (Spanish: Su Alteza Real la Princesa de España )
- Her Majesty the Queen of Spain (1975-2014)
- (Spanish: Su Majestad la Reina de España )
- Her Majesty the Queen Sophia (since 2014)
- (Spanish: Su Majestad la Reina Doña Sofía )
Orders and honors
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Queen Sophia is an honorary doctor of various universities and an honorary member of the Club of Rome .
In 2014 she received the Steiger Award for her charity engagement .
Web links
- Literature by and about Sophia of Greece in the catalog of the German National Library
- Official Biography of the Queen (Spanish)
- Website of the Fundación Reina Sofía (Spanish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Urban : The Shadows Beyond Splendor. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , November 2, 2018, accessed on August 5, 2020.
- ↑ La reina Sofía seguirá viviendo en La Zarzuela tras la marcha de Juan Carlos I. La madre de Felipe VI continuará con sus labores institucionales y su trabajo en la fundación que lleva su nombre. In: El País . August 3, 2020, accessed August 5, 2020 (Spanish).
- ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau: Queen Sofía and Letizia get fixed salaries ( Memento from July 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Juan Carlos now pays Sofía a fixed salary. In: FAZ, February 4, 2014, p. 7.
- ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF file; 6.59 MB)
- ↑ Jean Schoos : The medals and decorations of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the former Duchy of Nassau in the past and present. Publishing house of Sankt-Paulus Druckerei AG. Luxembourg 1990. ISBN 2-87963-048-7 . P. 344.
- ↑ Queen Sofía receives the Steiger Award. In: Märkische Allgemeine , October 4, 2014, accessed on August 5, 2020.
| predecessor | Office | Successor |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria Eugénie von Battenberg |
Queen of Spain 1975-2014 |
Letizia |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sophia of Greece |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Glücksburg, Sofia |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Greek noblewoman, Queen of Spain |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 2, 1938 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Athens |