Former Queen Sofia of Spain is still one of the most popular figures in the country. Nevertheless none of her countrymen envy her. Sophia, who today (November 2) celebrates her 85th birthdays, she still appears cool in her rare public appearances, but also sad. “Queen Sophia’s melancholy summer” had also occupied her newspaper El Mundo in August.

The ex-queen’s grief is surely due in no small part to the loss of her brotherof the last king of Greece Constantine II, who passed away in January aged 82. Sophia, the eldest child of the royal couple of Paul I of Greece and Frederick of Hanover, maintained a close relationship with him. But during her brother’s funeral in Athens, something else must have caused her grief: her husband, the scandalous ex-king of Spain, Juan Carlos.

A broken family

Sofia served as queen at Juan Carlos’ side for about four decades, always living for Spain and the Crown. While rumors of her husband’s extramarital affairs circled the world again and again, Sofia did her best to maintain the image of a happy royal family. But without succeeding. The family has been separated for years, while Juan Carlos has been living in exile in Dubai since 2020.

Sophia often faced public humiliation – like one day in 2011 when extramarital dating website Ashley Madison hung a huge poster of the then Spanish monarch in Madrid, the former president of the USA Bill Clinton and the current British King Charles, thereby offending her allegedly unfaithful husband.

“What do these ‘officials’ have in common?”, read the poster’s title, and underneath: “They probably used Ashley Madison.”. The extramarital affairs of Clinton and Charles are well known. As for Juan Carlos, that never proved to be the case.

Jail sentence for Sophia’s son-in-law

One of Sophia’s sons-in-lawChristina’s husband, Inaki Urdangarin, sentenced to prison for embezzlement of public funds. The Spanish judiciary’s multi-year investigation into Juan Carlos’ own financial wrongdoing was stopped last year, despite “irregularities”, due to a statute of limitations.

The Spanish royal family and Sofia have always followed the motto of the British royal family: “never complain, never explain”. Even after her husband’s resignation in June 2014, Sofia continued to prioritize the interest of her country and family. Those who know her well are not surprised. “She is a passionate fighter,” said Queen Noor of Jordan a few years ago about Sofia, who has now also been honored with the title of “Reina emerita” (Honorary Queen).

“I’m 100% Spanish”

For a period, Sofia also lived in Germany, at the famous Salem boarding school. He studied music and archeology in Athens and received numerous honorary doctorates, including from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Tokyo. Her two daughters, Elena (age 54) and Cristina (age 53) were the first members of the Spanish royal family to graduate from university. As for her son and current King Philip VI, he is perhaps considered a little… uncool, he nevertheless managed to improve the image of the family, charting a different path than his father.

Juan Carlos met Sofia on a cruise in the Aegean in 1954 and eight years later the two were married. The then 24-year-old Sofia did not receive a warm welcome in Spain. After all, she was a Christian Orthodox Greek woman who did not speak Spanish. However, Sophia quickly adapted to her new role, converted to Catholicism and learned the language of her new homeland within a few months. Today she emphasizes that “I am 100% Spanish”.