Queen Sofia of Spain celebrated her 83rd birthday last week, and to continue the festivities, we’re devoting today’s Sparkling Spotlight post to one of her incredible royal wedding appearances.
In May 2004, Queen Sofia joined royals around the world at the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark in Copenhagen. The Spanish and Danish royals are cousins, but they share an even closer, more recent connection: Sofia’s brother, King Constantine II of Greece, is married to Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, sister of Queen Margrethe II. Above, Sofia arrives at the wedding with Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (who wore two of her own wedding jewels, the Württemberg Ornate Pearl Tiara and Queen Sophie’s Strawberry Leaf Brooch, for the occasion).
For her accessories at this Danish royal wedding, Queen Sofia reached for jewels that belonged to her husband’s grandmother, Queen Ena of Spain. The spotlight piece of her ensemble was Queen Ena’s Pearl and Diamond Tiara, with its distinctive laurel wreath scroll pattern.
She paired the tiara with jewels from another important collection of Spanish royal heirlooms. These are the joyas de pasar, jewels from Queen Ena that are designated to pass from monarch to monarch. The collection includes numerous pieces, which were worn by Sofia during the reign of King Juan Carlos, and which are now worn by Queen Letizia.
Sofia wore several important pieces from the joyas de pasar collection for the wedding: the diamond earrings, the diamond necklace, and both of the matching diamond bracelets.
She finished off the look with a diamond fleur-de-lis brooch, which she used to secure the sash of her Danish order, the Order of the Elephant. The fleur-de-lis has been an important royal symbol of the House of Borbón for centuries, and you’ll often see Queen Letizia wearing fleur-de-lis jewelry as well.
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