Her Majesty Queen Sofia was born as Princess of Greece in Psychiko, Athens, Greece on 2 November 1938, the eldest child of King Paul and his wife, Frederica of Hanover.
Princess Sofia spent some of her childhood in Egypt where she took her early education in El Nasr Girls' College (EGC) in Alexandria, then went to 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 childcare, music and archeology in Athens. Sofia also studied at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. She represented Greece, alongside her brother Constantine, as a reserve member of the Gold Medal-winning sailing team in the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Princess Sofia met Infante Juan Carlos of Spain on a cruise in the Greek Islands in 1954; they met again at the wedding of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, at York Minster in June, 1961.
The couple married on 14 May 1962, in Athens at the Catholic Cathedral of Saint Dennis. The bride's gown was made by Jean Dessès and she was attended by her sister Irene, the groom’s sister Infanta Pilar of Spain, and Sofia’s future sister-in-law Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, along with Princess Irene of the Netherlands, Princess Alexandra of Kent, Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Princess Anne of Orleans, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, and Princess Tatiana Radziwill.
Prince Juan Carlos acceded to the throne in 1975 upon the death of Francisco Franco. Juan Carlos was anointed king in a ceremony called Holy Spirit Mass, which was the equivalent of a coronation, at the Jerónimos Church in Madrid, so Princess Sofìa became Queen of Spain.
The couple have three children:
Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo, born 20 December 1963;
Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, born 13 June 1965;
Felipe, Prince of Asturias, born 30 January 1968.
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