The King has granted his mother, Queen Sofía, the collar of the distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece, the highest distinction bestowed by the Crown and which, in the ten years of King Felipe VI's reign, had only been received by Princess Leonor. The Official State Gazette (BOE) publishes this Friday the decree of concession for Sofía of Greece (86), in which the concession is argued: “Wishing to publicly testify my Royal Esteem for Her Majesty Queen Doña Sofía and to publicly recognize her dedication and commitment to the service of Spain and the Crown. Having heard the Council of Ministers, I hereby grant to my mother, Her Majesty Queen Doña Sofía, the Collar of the Order of the Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece.” The Royal Decree 1116/2024 is signed by the King and by Vice President María Jesús Montero in place of the President.
The decree was approved days before November 2, the date on which Queen Sofía turned 86, but it was not published until this Friday when the entry of the King's mother into an order to which King Juan Carlos, King Felipe, and Princess Leonor already belong becomes effective. The Council of Ministers on Tuesday, October 29, approved the royal decree, the same day that the terrible dana ravaged the Valencian coast. For this reason, and as a sign of respect for the affected individuals, the King chose not to disclose the appointment and opted to wait a few weeks for it to be published in the Official State Gazette.
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, King Felipe VI, and Princess Leonor are the four members of the royal family who, starting this Friday, possess the Order of the Golden Fleece
Felipe VI awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece to his firstborn, Princess Leonor, on October 31, 2015, on the occasion of her tenth birthday. However, he did not formally bestow it upon her until two years later, during a ceremony held at the Royal Palace on January 31, 2018, coinciding with King Felipe's 50th birthday. The event was attended by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía, as well as other relatives of the King. The Princess of Asturias was the first heiress to receive this honor and join an order that, until the reign of King Juan Carlos I, had been exclusively available to men.
When Felipe VI bestowed the Order of the Golden Fleece upon his daughter, he told her: “Leonor, may all the actions of your life be guided by dignity and exemplarity, by honesty and integrity, by the capacity for renunciation and sacrifice, by a perpetual spirit of self-improvement, and by your unwavering dedication to your country and your people.” In the case of her mother, these wishes for the future are the merits of a past and a present that Felipe VI wants to recognize with the highest possible distinction.
The King kisses his daughter Leonor after bestowing the Order of the Golden Fleece upon her, in a ceremony that took place on January 31, 2028 at the Royal Palace
After the concession to Queen Sofía, 16 individuals (twelve men and four women) are part of the order. The oldest member is King Juan Carlos, to whom his grandfather Alfonso XIII granted the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1941. Felipe de Borbón received the Order in 1981 from his father. King Juan Carlos also bestowed this prestigious distinction upon Emperor Akihito of Japan, King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Albert II of Belgium, King Harald V of Norway, Simeon II of Bulgaria, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, the former Minister and Secretary General of NATO Javier Solana, the former director of the Royal Spanish Academy Víctor de la Concha, the former President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy, and the former Secretary General of the Ibero-American General Secretariat Enrique Iglesias.
King Juan Carlos also granted the Order of the Golden Fleece to Queen Elizabeth of England. After the death of the holders, the insignias, collars, and the fleece representing the Order must be returned to the grand master of the order, in this case King Felipe VI. The order allows a maximum of 51 members, although that number has not been reached in recent years.
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Granted concessions
By King Alfonso XIII
Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón, Prince of Asturias, 1938
By the Count of Barcelona
Balduino I, King of the Belgians, 1960
Paul I, King of Greece, 1962
Carlos de Borbón dos Sicilias, Infante of Spain, 1964
Robert II of Bourbon, Duke of Parma, 1964
Constantine, King of the Hellenes, 1964
By King Juan Carlos I
Torcuato Fernández Miranda, Duke of Fernández Miranda. 31/05/1977
Nicolás de Cotoner y Cotoner, Marquess of Mondéjar. 24/06/1977
Felipe de Borbón y Grecia, Prince of Asturias. 03/05/1981
José María Pemán Pemartín, writer and academic. 08/05/1981
Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden. 22/03/1983
Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. 16/06/1983
Olav V, King of Norway. 28/03/1984
Akihito, Emperor of Japan. 26/02/1985
Hussein, King of Jordan. 22/03/1985
Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands. 07/10/1985
Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark. 23/10/1985
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 05/05/1989
Beltrán Osorio y Díez de Rivera, Duke of Alburquerque. 01/04/1993
Albert II, King of the Belgians. 16/09/1994
Harald V, King of Norway. 21/04/1995
Simeon of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prime Minister of Bulgaria. 01/10/2004
Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand. 09/06/2006
Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. 13/04/2007
Adolfo Suárez González, Duke of Suárez. Former President of the Government. 08/06/2007
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and King of Saudi Arabia. 15/06/2007
Javier Solana Madariaga, Secretary General of NATO. 22/01/2010
Víctor García de la Concha, Director of the Royal Spanish Academy. 22/01/2010
Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic. 25/11/2011
Enrique Valentín Iglesias García, Ibero-American Secretary General. 28/03/2014
By King Felipe VI
Leonor of Bourbon and Ortiz, Princess of Asturias. 31/10/2015