Queen Sofía of Spain

Sofía, Queen of Spain (Su Majestad la Reina Sofía de España, Βασίλισσα Σοφία της Ισπανίας; born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark on November 2, 1938; full name Sophía Margaríta Viktoría Frederíki), is the Queen Consort of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

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 the Constantine II of Greece and her sister Princess Irene of Greece and Demark. However, since the restoration of democracy, the royal titles are not recognized in Greece, where the former royal family is held in low regard by most Greeks.

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 English, French, German, Greek and Spanish.

She represented Greece in sailing at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Marriage and family
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: 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: Froilán 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.

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 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.

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 "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.

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)

Trivia

 * She is a pescetarian (a person who does not eat from land dwelling animals, but does consume 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).
 * Like the Queen of Belgium and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Queen Sofía holds the title of Catholic Monarch, and, in the presence of the Pope, is permitted to wear white rather than the customary black. This is known as Privilège du blanc.
 * The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, one of the three premier international art museums in Madrid, is named after her.
 * HRH Infanta Sofía second daughter of the Prince and Princess of Asturias is named after her.
 * The Queen was one of the closest friends of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who performed in Madrid several times for her. They were friends since Sofia was a Princess. The Queen attended his funeral in Moscow.