Greek Royal Family commemorates King Paul I of the Hellenes

Crown Prince Pavlos and his family in Athens.

Athens hasn't seen such a big royal event in decades. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of King Paul's death  his children, King Constantine II of the Hellenes, Queen Anna-Maria, Queen Sofía of Spain and Princess Irene, and many other family members gathered in the Greek capital to hold a memorial service for their parents . Yesterday a new documentary on the life of King Paul I had a world premiere. The film perfomance was attended not only by Greek royals, but also by many members of other royal families, among them  Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia, Margrave Max and Margrevine Valery of Baden.



Today 50 years ago King Paul I of the Hellenes passed away. In late February 1964, he had undergone an operation for stomach cancer, and a couple of days afterwards in Athens he passed away. On 19th February 1964 his eldest son, Crown Prince Constantine, had been appointed as Regent.


The royal decree that appointed 23-year-old Crown Prince Constantine as Regent, was drafted by the Government and sent to the King for signature. King Paul signed it, and it was promulgated in the official gazette. Before he was admitted to the hospital, King Paul had sworn in the new cabinet of Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou, which was formed after the recent elections. Due to the king's fragile health the ceremony had taken place at the royal residence of Tatoi and not at the Royal Palace in Athens. On 6th March 1964 the death of King Paul I was announced. He was succeeded by his only son, King Constantine II of the Hellenes.
King Paul (Greek: Παῦλος, Βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων, Pávlos, Vasiléfs ton Ellínon; 14th December 1901 – 6th March 1964) was born in Athens, the third son of King Constantine I of the Hellenes and his wife, Queen Sophia, née Princess of Prussia. He was trained as a naval officer and joined the British Royal Navy as a cadet at the Naval Academy in Dartmouth, later in Osborne. During World War I he accompanied his parents into exile, which they spent in Switzerland and Germany, while his elder brother ruled as King Alexander I. After his brother's premature death, the Greek parliament had proclaimed Prince Paul to be his successor, but he refused and insisted on his father's return on the throne. On 19th December 1920 the royal family returned and Prince Paul joined the Greek Royal Naval Academy in Piraeus to complete his formation. In 1922 he graduated and was promoted to sub lieutenant.

After the Greek troops were defeated by Turkey, King Constantine I was picked as scapegoat and forced into exile again. He left his beloved Greece on 22nd September 1922 and was succeeded by his eldest son, King George II. This made Prince Paul the new Crown Prince of Greece. King Constantine I died in Italy on 23 January 1923, but the government refused to grant the dead monarch a state funeral at home. The second republic was proclaimed on 25th March 1924 and the Royal Family was forced to leave the country of their birth and were stripped of their nationality and their property.

Short of money, Crown Prince Paul first went to Romania, where his sister had married Crown Prince Carol, then to the UK and found a job in the new aeroplane industry. At the British company Armstrong Siddeley in Coventry he became a mechanic apprentice under the name of "Paul Beck" and assembled planes.

Instablility in the Greek republic
Between 1924, when the republic was proclaimed and 1935, when it was finally abolished again Greece was shaken by instability and financial ruin. In little less than ten years, the country had 23 governments, one dictatorship and 13 coups d'État. In the end, the Monarchy was universally seen as the solution. On 10th October 1935 a military putsch deposed the prime minister and the president and the national assembly proclaimed the re-instalment of the Monarchy under the regency of Georgios Kondýlis. King George II insisted on a popular vote and Kondýlis organised a referendum on 3rd November 1935. On 5th November King George agreed to return to Greece. King and Crown Prince arrived in Athens on 25th November.

Wedding of Crown Prince Paul of Greece and Princess Frederika of Hanover.

To secure the dynasty's future Crown Prince Paul married the Princess Frederika of Hanover. He first met his bride in 1927, when she was only ten years old. They met again in 1934 when both attended the wedding of Greek Princess Marina and the Duke of Kent. The young couple married on 9th January 1938. The first child was born on 2nd November 1938: Princess Sophia, today Queen Sofía of Spain, followed on 2nd June 1940 by Prince Constantine, today King Constantine II of the Hellenes, and 11th May 1942 Princess Irene. The latter princess was born in South Africa, where Crown Princess Frederika had found refuge. Between the two births was the Italian attack on Greece and after the Greek troops had defeated the invader, the Germans came to the aid of their allies and occupied the Kingdom of Greece in 1941.

While King George II, Crown Prince Paul and the royal government went to Britain to continue the fight against the invaders, Crown Princess Frederika and her children were invited by South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts to come to his country. They stayed there until March 1944 and then left South African for Egypt. After the German troops were defeated another referendum was held on the Monarchy. On 1st September 1946 69 % of the Greeks said yes to the return of their royal family. On 27th September King George II came back to Greece for a third time only to die suddenly on 1st April 1947.

The reign of King Paul I
The new King and Queen faced a country that was torn apart by civil war. In 1947 they was unable to attend the wedding of his first cousin, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh to Princess Elizabeth as King Paul was suffering from typhoid fever.

By 1949 the Civil War was effectively over, with the Communist insurgents ceasing the majority of their operations, and the task of rebuilding the shattered north of the country began. Between 1948 and 1952 Greece received 376 millions US $ US aid from the Marshall Plan. The country began to stabilise under King Paul in eleven years the country had only two prime ministers, one of them was Konstantin Karamanlis  who after 1974 played such an unfortunate role. But in the 50s the agricultural and mining sectors boomed and the tourism industry flourished. Greece recovered not only economically, but diplomatic and trade links were strengthened as well by the royal couple's state visits abroad. King Paul became the first Greek Monarch to visit Istanbul and Ankara in June 1952. However, links with Britain became strained over Cyprus, where the majority Greek population favoured union with Greece, which Britain, as the colonial power, would not endorse. Eventually, Cyprus became an independent state in 1960.

The monarch's health deteriorated at the end of the 50s. He died during surgery on 6th March 1964 and was buried in a state funeral on 11th March 1964.

Funeral of King Paul on 11th March 1964. At the centre his widow, Queen Frederika, to her right the new king: Constantine II, next to him, Princess Sofía of Spain. From right to left: Prince Juan Carlos, Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark.

Queen Sofía turns 75

Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain celebrates her 75th birthday today. She was born Princess Sophia Margarita Victoria Friederika of Greece and Denmark nearly exactly three years to the day that Greece had voted in a referendum to restore the Monarchy (3rd November 1935). King George II of the Hellenes had returned after 12 years of exile, but he and his Romanian born wife Queen Elisabeta had no children, therefore Princess Sophia’s father Pavlos was Crown Prince of Greece. In 1947 the Crown Prince ascended to the Greek throne as King Pavlos I. When she was born Princess Sophia was second in line to the Greek throne until her brother Konstantinos was born on 2nd June 1940. He succeeded his father in March 1964 as King Constantine II of the Hellenes.

Princess Sophia with her father, King Pavlos, and sister Princess Irene 1948.

The Greek Royal Family was again forced into exile in 1941, when German and Italian troops invaded the Kingdom. In an adventurous escape Crown Princess Friederika and her two children fled first to the island of Crete, then to Egypt and finally to South Africa, where the family stayed until in 1946 another referendum affirmed the Monarchy in Greece.

During the Greek civil war and the years of reconstruction in the 1950s Princess Sophia fulfilled her duties as a member of the Greek Royal Family.

Royal wedding in Athens in May 1962.

On 14th May 1962 she married Prince Juan Carlos of Borbón y Borbón in a colourful ceremony in Athens. The Greek parliament has approved a $300,000 tax-free dowry for Princess Sophie. The bill was passed by a show of hands. Two parties, the Union of the Centre and the Pro-Communist United Democratic left, abstained from the voting. Opposition leaders "denounced the practice of granting dowries and anachronistic and barbarous."

Between 1963 and 1968 the couple had three children: Infanta Elena (* 20th December 1963), Infanta Cristina (* 13th June 1965) and Infant Felipe (* 30th January 1968).

Queen Sofia cuddles a panda bear in the Madrid zoo.

After General Franco’s death Prince Juan Carlos was proclaimed King of Spain and the return of the Monarchy, which had been approved in a referendum in 1947 was completed in November 1975. A new democratic constitution was drawn and accepted by the Spanish people in a referendum. In the difficult years of the renewed the Monarchy as well as democracy and various attempted coups that were tried by adherents of the old regime Queen Sofia was at her husband’s side to encourage and inspire him. On the occasion of his 30th anniversary as King, Don Juan Carlos thanked Queen Sofia "for her constant support, sensitivity and commitment”.

Queen Sofia behind the wheel of the Peugeot iON, a zero-emission electric vehicle with a battery life of 80 miles.

95th birthday of HM Queen Frederica of the Hellenes

The Greek Queen Frederica was born on 18th April 1917 as daughter of Duke Ernest Augustus III of Brunswick and his wife, Duchess Victoria Luise, née Princess of Prussia, the only daughter of German Emperor Wilhelm II and Empress Augusta Viktoria. As daughter of the head of the House of Hanover, she was Princess Frederica of Hanover, Great Britain and Ireland, and also Duchess Frederica of Brunswick-Lüneburg. As a descendant of King George III of the United Kingdom, she was, at birth, 34th in the line of succession to the British throne.


HRH Crown Prince Paul of Greece proposed to her during the summer of 1936, while he was in Berlin attending the 1936 Summer Olympics. Prince Paul was the son of King Constantine I of Greece and Queen Sophie, sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Their engagement was announced officially on 28th September 1937. They married in Athens on 9th January 1938. With her marriage Frederica used the title Hereditary Princess (Greek: Πριγκήπισσα Διαδόχου, Prinkēpissa Diadókhou, literally "Princess of the Heir") of Greece, her husband being heir presumptive to his elder brother, King George II of the Hellenes.


During the early part of their marriage, they resided at Villa Psychiko in the suburbs of Athens. Ten months after their marriage, their first child, Princess Sophia (the future Queen Sofia of Spain), was born on 2nd November 1938. On 2nd June 1940, their son and heir, Prince Constantine (the future King Constantine II), was born.

On 28th October 1940 Mussolini's troops attacked Greece, but were defeated by the Royal Greek Army. In April 1941 Hitler came to Mussolini’s rescue and invaded Greece. Crown Princess Frederica and her infant children were evacuated on a British warplane to Crete, where they were repeatedly strafed by the Luftwaffe. Several weeks later, Crete fell, and the Royal Family escaped to Cairo. From there, Crown Prince Paul accompanied King George to London, where a government-in-exile was formed. Crown Princess Frederica and the children spent the next two and a half years in South Africa, where a third child, Princess Irene, was born in 1942.


After the war, the Allies oversaw a plebiscite, and in September 1946, the Royal Family returned to Athens. On 1st September 1946 the Greek people decided by referendum on the Monarchy, which won 69 percent of the vote. King George II returned to the throne for a third time.


On 1st April 1947, King George II died suddenly and Frederica's husband ascended the Greek throne as King Paul I. Civil war was raging with the Communist guerrillas in the North, and that spring the Truman Doctrine had been launched to prevent Greece and Turkey from coming under Communist control. The King and Queen toured Northern Greece under severe security to try to appeal for loyalty in the summer of 1947.



During the civil war, Queen Frederica set the Queen's Camps or Child-cities (translation of: Παιδο(υ)πόλεις / Paidopoleis or Paidupoleis) a network of 53 camps around Greece where she would gather mostly orphans and children of poor families. These camps provided much needed shelter, food, and education to these children.


The Greek Civil War ended in August, 1949. The Sovereigns took this opportunity to strengthen the monarchy. But Queen Frederica has been described as "inherently undemocratic". The reason why the Queen became an often hated figure was because she was involved in Greek politics. However this involvement was often undertaken out of necessity. A closer analysis of Queen Frederica’s actions indicate that she was motivated by a desire to promote democracy and ultimately ensure that the Greek Monarchy became an institution that was above politics.


On 6th March 1964, King Paul died of cancer, and her son ascended the throne as King Constantine II. Queen Frederica assumed the title of queen dowager but continued to serve in the role of Queen. When King Constantine married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark later that year on 18th September, Queen Frederica stepped back from the majority of her public royal duties in favor of the new Queen. She remained a target for vicious attacks. In response she renounced her apanage and retired to the countryside where she lived an almost reclusive life. However, she continued to attend Royal events that were family-oriented, such as the baptisms of her grandchildren in both Spain and Greece.


After King Constantine’s counter-coup to restore democracy failed on 13th December 1967, Queen Frederica left the country with the King, Queen Anne-Marie, the King’s two year old daughter Princess Alexia, Crown Prince Pavlos, the King’s sister, Princess Irene and Prime Minister Kollias.


Queen Frederica died during a surgery in Madrid on 6th February 1981. Her funeral on 12th February 1981 in the garden of the Royal Estate Tatoi was attended by a multitude of reigning and deposed royalty. This was testament to the high esteem that the late Queen was still held in royal circles. Unfortunately Queen Frederica’s status as an important twentieth century historical figure progressively diminished following her son’s exile and the repudiation of the monarchy in 1974. When King Constantine II and his family were allowed to return to briefly attend Queen Frederica’s funeral at Tatoi, the King’s return was brief and His Majesty was not even allowed to stay overnight. At Athens Airport the King and his family were greeted by cheers from Monarchists behind a wire fence. Poignantly, many of the assembled Monarchists were vexed to the point of crying that their King was not allowed to go over and meet with them.

In February 2006 the Royal Family commemorated the late Queen Frederica at Tatoi.

19th July 1890: Birth of King George II of the Hellenes

The biographical data of His Majesty King George II originate from Balkanalysis.

Prince George was born on 19th July 1890, to this day 119 years ago, in the Royal residence of Tatoi near Athens, son of King Konstantinos I and Queen Sophia. The King died as the Greek head of state on April 1st, 1947 in the Royal Palace in Athens.

The young heir to the throne was educated at the Evelpides military academy and pursued higher military studies in the German Military Academy. At that time it was ordinary for the Royal Families in Europe to have their male members educated only in military schools and quite often they took part in wars, as was the case with Prince George . In 1913 during the the Second Balkan War, he served as a captain on the front lines, and accompanied his victorious father - Konstantinos I - who was the King of the Hellenes, and so, commander of the Greek forces.

The alliances and potential alliances for the Greeks in the First World War caused a widening gap between the parliamentary government of Venizelos, who was eager to join forces with the Entente, and the Royal Family, who preferred neutrality and had strong affiliations with the Germans.

The result of the Greek divide ultimately led to victory for Venizelos and the expulsion of the Royal Family in 1917. During his three-year exile abroad, Crown Prince George became engaged to the Romanian Princess Elisabeth and firmly clung to his royal credentials; he also used the period to expand his European high society network.

In 1920, just a few months after the signing of the short-lived Sèvres Treaty that gave Greece control in Asia Minor, Venizelos spectacularly lost the elections and the Royal Family managed after a referendum to return to Greece. Crown Prince George subsequently married Princess Elizabeth in 1921, whilst his sister, Princess Helena, married the heir of the Romanian throne, Crown Prince Carol - thus cementing the good relations between their two states. Moreover, George took part in the fateful Asia Minor military expedition and was made a colonel, responsible for drafting strategy for the troops upfront.

The expedition of the Greek Army in Anatolia resulted in catastrophe; after early gains, an overextension of forces resulted from entering too deep into the Anatolian landmass. This left the Greek army vulnerable and it was finally driven back to the sea by the resurgent Turkish nationalist forces led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha.

The dismaying news created a chaotic situation in Athens. A coup d’état led by Greek officers resulted in the resignation of George’s father, and the elevation of George to the throne on September 27, 1922 (Greek: Γεώργιος Β', Βασιλεύς των Ελλήνων). During his two-year residence as head of state, the young sovereign had to deal with the increasing propaganda against the Royal Family as an institution in Greek society. He also witnessed the execution of six members of the Greek government charged with being responsible for the disastrous Anatolian campaign.

George II as King and the Second Exile
In October 1923, after the Lausanne Treaty that created a new Mediterranean order and permanent boundaries, an attempt was made to overthrow the leaders of the 1922 revolution by several right-wing officers, including Metaxas, the would-be Prime Minister of Greece from 1936-1941. Even though King George was not involved, he was easily accused of being the culprit, and was forced to leave Greece in December 1923. As could be expected, he went to Romania. In April 1924, a Hellenic Republic was proclaimed.

The second period of exile for the Greek King had strong implications that would influence Greek politics for years to come. First of all, King George II divorced his Romanian wife and moved to Britain, where he took up residence in the storied Brown’s Hotel of London. During his stay in London from 1929-1935, George became an adherent of the British way of life and cultivated further his important relations with the English aristocracy, something that would play a major role in his future come-back in Greek public affairs.
Moreover, the exiled monarch travelled abroad regularly throughout the Greek Diaspora, in order to extract support. He managed to build a stern persona, an image as some sort of a firm and wise ruler capable of uniting a Greece so often characterised by fractiousness, instability and corruption. During this time it is highly likely that the king-in-exile managed to win British support through skilfully managing his royal family relations.

The opportunity George was looking for appeared in 1935. An unsuccessful coup d’état by Greek officers led by Colonel Plastiras changed the political climate in Greece, swinging the balance in favour of the monarchy. Meanwhile, the still mighty British Empire, fearing the expansion of the Italian and German powers, wanted to appoint a staunch supporter in one of the most important geo-strategic regions, the Balkans.

Thus, in November 1935 a referendum for the reinstatement of King George passed by a resounding 97 percent. This overwhelming approval initiated his second return to his country of birth. The reinstated King was able to have real popular support because the Greek Republic (1924-1936) was not successful. It collapsed in chaos leaving serious unresolved issues to be dealt with, such as social inequality, failures in foreign policy and general public disappointment and apathy.

Even though King George II was not generally in favour of dictatorship, the unresolved political tensions in Greece, simultaneous with a growing militarisation in Europe, proved to be decisive factors in that direction. On August 4th, 1936, George signed a government paper that declared a state of emergency in Greece; in essence, a dictatorship was being established. It was led by the Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, a longtime military officer well known for his monarchist sentiments.

Despite the fact that Metaxas was also in favour of the Germans, this fondness did not play a significant role in the actual governance of the state. The Greek army was almost completely loyal to the monarchy, and Metaxas was above all an officer loyal to his king.

When the Italian Army attacked Greece on October 28th, 1940, the defiant Greeks were able to claim the first great victory that the Allied forces had won against the Axis since the beginning of the war. It increased the prestige of King George II, who was very active in monitoring the progress of the military campaign against Italy. He also pressed the English in sending help to Greece, managing to redirect large British forces from the major front of North Africa, so vital to the British due to their interests in the Suez Canal.

On April 6th, 1941 Greece denied access to German troops, and a much tougher campaign started. The Greek army, after several weeks of intense fighting, was defeated and German troops occupied Athens on April 27th. At that time the King was determined to continue the resistance, despite lingering pro-German sentiment amongst the Greek political class. He formed a government under Emmanouel Tsouderos (a former opponent of the King’s), who also happened to be from the island of Crete - the place of the latest epic battle between the Greeks and the Germans.

On April 23rd, 1941, King George II and his government left Athens and went to Crete to continue the fight. After fierce skirmishes known collectively as “The Battle of Crete” German paratroopers occupied Crete and King George, along with most of his cabinet, narrowly escaped to Egypt and British protection. From that time onwards, London and Cairo were to play host to the Greek government-in-exile. Meanwhile, King George toured the world - including Great Britain, South Africa, Canada and the USA - trying to win support for Greece from the Allied governments and their peoples. He also declared the end of dictatorship and tried to compromise with his former political opponents.

The occupation by Germany brought major societal changes to the country. Greece saw the emergence of a renewed Communist Party and strong anti-monarchist forces. When Greece was liberated in October 1944, the King didn’t return immediately. In December 1944, the first round of confrontations between the Greek government and the Communists broke out in Athens. The one-month struggle between them signalled just the prelude to a three-year civil war that raged from 1946-1949.

The political strife in Greece resulted in a virtual British occupation of the country. Fearing Soviet expansion and the Communist rise, the Allied powers sought to aid through all means necessary the government in the fight against the rebels.

A coalition dominated by the new People's Party was elected and their leader Constantinos Tsaldaris in the opening session of parliament called for the return of the King and initiated a constitutional plebiscite. Once again in yet another election 68% vote for the return of the King, some of whom may have seen Greece's return to a monarchy as being better then being run by the communists. King George arrived in Greece on September 27th, 1946, and he lived only until April 1st, 1947, when he died of a sudden heart attack. During that short period of time, King George II experienced the beginning of the Greek Civil War, the enacting of the Truman Doctrine - the formal announcement of the Cold War - and the liberation of the Dodecanese after a generation of Italian occupation.

King George II: His Importance and Legacy
George II was a king who lived throughout, and in some periods ruled over, some of the most important events in modern Greek history. In fact, he shaped them in ways that are still being felt in Greek life today. His pro-British stance led Greece to the Allies in WWII, resulting in a devastating German occupation - but an eventual victory in being firmly allied on the ‘right side’ of history in the world’s greatest-ever conflict.
This alliance was cemented, sometimes brutally, by the civil war that followed WWII. Yet King George’s decisiveness against the Communist threat kept Greece firmly in the Western camp - a result that was clearly beneficial of the country, as history has borne out.

On the other hand, the King’s support for dictatorship helped keep alive a violent political climate in Greece, and the association of military power with politics condoned under King George II was a recurrent phenomenon that haunted the nation again during the disastrous Colonel’s Regime of 1967, which led up to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

As a person, King George II was a reserved, aloof character, who never became truly popular, as his father and his grandfather (George I) had been. King George II was more of a statesman, disinterested in the trappings of everyday life. King George would be the only modern royal not to leave an heir, and his successor was King Paul (Greek Παύλος, Βασιλεύς των Ελλήνων, 14th December 1901 – 6th March 1964), his younger brother.

To understand the broader international image and impact of a man who lived and travelled for such lengthy periods abroad, historians will have to examine more intensively King George’s role in helping the Allies win the war, and his deep connections to the British royal family, which invested enough political capital to have George installed on the Greek throne thrice in less than a generation. It is more than certain that a thorough survey will some day unveil many more interesting facts and dimensions of the life and career of King George II, as both a man and a monarch.

70th Birthday of Queen Sofía of Spain

On 2nd November Queen Sofía of Spain celebrates her 70th birthday. She was born Princess Margarita Victoria Friederika of Greece and Denmark almost exactly three years to the day after Greece had voted in a referendum to restore the Monarchy (3rd November 1935).
King George II of the Hellenes had returned after 12 years in exile, but he and his Romanian born wife Queen Elisabeth had no children, therefore Princess Sophia’s father was Crown Prince of Greece. In 1947 he ascended to the Greek throne as King Pavlos I. When she was born in 1938 Princess Sophia was second in line to the Greek throne until the birth of her brother Konstantinos on 2nd June 1940. He succeeded his father in March 1964 as King Constantine II of the Hellenes.



Drawing of the young Princess Sophia for Admiral Stavridis

The Greek Royal Family was again forced into exile in 1941, when German and Italian troops invaded the Kingdom. The Royal Greek Army fought bravely against the powerful enemies, but they could not prevent the occupation. In an adventurous escape Crown Princess Frederika and her two children fled first to the island of Crete, then to Egypt and finally to South Africa, where the family stayed until in 1946 another referendum affirmed the Monarchy in Greece.

Princess Sophia with Greek peasants

During the Greek civil war and the years of reconstruction in the 1950s Princess Sophia fulfilled her duties as a member of the Greek Royal Family.





















King Pavlos and his son, Crown Prince Konstantinos, held the crowns above the heads of the royal couple during the wedding ceremony in Athens.

On 14th May 1962 she married Prince Juan Carlos of Borbón y Borbón in a colourful ceremony in Athens. Between 1963 and 1968 the couple had three children: Infanta Elena (* 20th December 1963), Infanta Cristina (* 13th June 1965) and the heir to the Spanish throne, Infant Felipe (* 30th January 1968).

After General Franco’s death Prince Juan Carlos was proclaimed King of Spain and the return of the Monarchy, which had been approved in a referendum in 1947, was completed in November 1975. A new democratic constitution was drawn up and accepted by the Spanish people in a referendum. In the difficult years of the renewed Monarchy as well as democracy and with various attempted coups by adherents of the old regime Queen Sofía was at her husband’s side to encourage and inspire him.

When celebrating his 30th anniversary on the Spanish throne, King Juan Carlos thanked Queen Sofía "for her constant support, sensitivity and commitment”.

On her 70th Birthday, the huge majority of the Spanish people [plus myself] will cherish their Queen and wish her a long life at the side of her husband, King Juan Carlos I.