Spanish King and Queen celebrate 47 years of marriage

Spanish King and Queen celebrate 47 years of marriage
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By m.p. - May 14, 2009 - 4:17 PM
The royal couple were joined in marriage in three separate ceremonies in 1962: Catholic, Orthodox and civil

Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía - EFE

The Spanish King and Queen are approaching a landmark date, just three years away from their Golden Wedding. The royal couple celebrate their 47th wedding anniversary this Thursday.

Don Juan Carlos and Doña Sofía first met in 1954 on a cruise aboard the ‘Agamemnon’, organised by Queen Frederica of Greece, mother to the 15 year old Princess Sofía. The future king, 16 at the time, was there with other young royals of Europe, but once admitted years later that the young princess did not catch his eye on that occasion.

Nor, we're told, was there a spark at their second meeting in 1959 at the wedding of Elisabeth of Württemberg in Germany. Quoting the Jaime Peñafiel book ‘Portrait of a Marriage’, 20 minutos reports that Juan Carlos was at the time linked to Princess María Gabriela de Saboya, a relationship which reportedly did not please the Spanish head of state, Francisco Franco. The general is said to have thought the princess was too liberal and had too many modern ideas. There were also rumours of a possible engagement between Princess Sofía and Harald of Norway.

It was not until 1961 at the marriage of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, that the spark began to ignite between the future King and Queen of Spain. Four months later, at a meeting between the two royal families in Switzerland, Don Juan Carlos asked King Paul of Greece for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

The wedding took place in Athens on 14th May 1962. In fact, the couple were married three times that day at three separate locations in the city: a Catholic, an Orthodox and a civil ceremony. Their honeymoon was a four-month trip around the world.

El Mundo reports another anniversary which is being celebrated this month, at the Westin Palace in Madrid. Built at the direction of Alfonso XIII in 1912, the hotel is celebrating the King’s wedding to Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenburg, a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. A commemorative menu on offer in the hotel’s restaurant from the end of this month will serve dishes based on recipes from 103 years ago. There will even be wedding cake on offer, which was first introduced into Spain at the royal wedding in 1906.

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