Sofia Grecia

Sofia Grecia is a character in the Lilydale series.

Early life
Princess Sofia was born on November 2, 1938 in Athens, Greece as the eldest child of King Paul Grecia and Queen Frederica Dinamarca. She has two younger siblings: Constantine Grecia (1940) and Irene Grecia (1942).

Princess Sofia spent some of her childhood in Egypt where she took early education at El Nasr Girls College. She lived in South Africa during her families exile from Greece during World War II. They returned in 1946 where she finished her education at Schloss Salem Boarding School and studied childcare, music, archeology in Athens, Greece. She also studied at University of Cambridge.

She speaks Greek, Italian, French, German, Portuguese and English.

Marriage and children
Sofia met her paternal third cousin; Juan Bourbon on a cruise in the Greek Islands in 1954 and then again at the wedding of Edward George Windsor and Katharine Worsley in 1959.

The couple married on May 14, 1960 at the Catholic Cathedral of Saint Dionysius in Athens, Greece. The attendees included Irene Grecia, Pilar Bourbon. Anne=Marie Glucksburg, Irene Nassau, Alexandra Windsor, Astrid Glucksburg, Anne Orleans and Eugenie Glucksburg.

She converted from Greek Orthodox to Roman Catholicism to become more palatable to Catholic Spain and relinquished her rights to the Greek throne. She changed her name from Sophia to the Spanish variant, ''Sofia. ''

In 1969, her husband; Juan was given the official title of Prince of Spain where he then ascended the throne in 1975 upon the death of Francisco Franco.

Sofia and Juan have three children: Elena Bourbon (1961), Cristina Bourbon (1963) and Alfonso Bourbon (1965). They have five grandsons and five granddaughters: Felipe Marichalar (?), Victoria Marichalar (?), Pablo Urdangarin (?), Miguel Urdangarin (?), Irene Urdangarin (?), Dion Bourbon (1990), Alexandrina Bourbon (1992), Leonora Bourbon (1996) and Sofia Bourbon (2000).