Queen Sofia’s 70th birthday
To mark her septuagenarian year, Spain’s elegant Queen Sofia had a music-filled night. Spaniards, led by her husband, King Juan Carlos, and a small band of European royals, greeted the monarch in festivities held in Madrid on Nov.2, 2008.
In the Spanish capital, the posh sovereign ushered her night with a ticket to a classical music performance by Indian-born prodigy Zubin Mehta.
Mehta, who hails from Mumbai, is apparently one of the Queen’s favorites. As a gift to the Queen, he capped the concert by leading the orchestra into a special rendition of “Happy Birthday,” played in no less than eight varieties. Afterwards, Queen Sofia received a special flower bouquet, amidst a standing ovation and resounding cries of “Viva la Reina!”
She exited the concert, which was held at the newly opened Albéniz Foundation hall in Madrid’s Plaza de Oriente, to the cheering and adulation of hundreds of her subjects. King Juan Carlos had been by her side the whole concert, and the royal couple proceeded to the Zarzuela Palace for her birthday feast.
Well-wishers of the Queen flew in from some of Spain’s neighboring kingdoms. They included Queen Noor of Jordan and King Simeon of Bulgaria. Princess Alexia of Greece was also there.
Her Majesty’s children were in full attendance, from Princess Elena to Prince Felipe to Princess Christina. Their spouses, Princess Letizia and Inaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma de Mallorca, were likewise present. Princess Pilar and Princess Mararita also paid tribute to the celebrant. Present too were some of the country’s most well-to-do commoners such as Paloma O’Shea, Farath Diba, and Maria Zurita.
Sofia is the queen consort of King Juan Carlos, whom she wed in 1962 as a newly baptized Catholic. She was born a Greek Orthodox as Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark on November 2, 1938.
Spaniards admire her for her considerable part in reinstating democracy after the collapse of Franco’s fascist government in 1975.
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