{"id":700466,"date":"2026-01-16T18:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/700466\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T18:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:48:16","slug":"princess-irene-of-greece-queen-sofia-of-spains-sister-dies-at-age-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/700466\/","title":{"rendered":"Princess Irene of Greece, Queen Sofia of Spain\u2019s Sister, Dies at Age 83"},"content":{"rendered":"

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, the inseparable younger sister of Spain\u2019s Queen Sof\u00eda<\/strong><\/a>, has passed away in Madrid\u2019s Zarzuela Palace. A statement<\/a> from the Royal House reads: \u201cIt is with deep sadness that the Greek Royal Family announces that HRH Princess Irene, beloved sister and aunt, passed away on Thursday, January 15th 2026, at 11:40 local time, in Zarzuela Palace in Madrid surrounded by loved ones. Details will follow regarding the funeral procession.\u201d<\/p>\n

Princess Irene was 83 at the time of her death. She leaves behind her a silent, but decisive mark in the history of the Greek and Spanish monarchies. Close confidant of King Felipe VI<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s mother, for decades, Princess Irene became a silent witness of the ins and outs of the Spanish monarchy. She led an interesting life marked by her constant renunciation of the limelight, absolute loyalty to her family, and a spirituality influenced by the years she lived with her mother in India.<\/p>\n

In her last moments, she had been accompanied by Queen Sof\u00eda, who canceled her schedule of activities in Palma de Mallorca to be by her sister\u2019s side, Hello! magazine<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

Settled in Zarzuela since the mid-eighties, for more than forty years, Princess Irene became the main support of her older sister, although she used to say that her role was not \u201cofficial.\u201d With an intense, unpredictable, and luminous personality, Irene won the affection of her large family, who affectionately called her \u201cAunt Pecu\u201d (for being so peculiar), with whom she spoke in English and Greek despite speaking correct Spanish, and who loved and accompanied her until the end. She never married, but remained close with her kin. Queen Sof\u00eda and King Juan Carlos<\/strong> of Spain<\/a>\u2019s daughter, Princess<\/strong> Cristina<\/strong>, even named her only daughter Irene<\/strong> in her aunt\u2019s honor.<\/p>\n

Princess Irene was born on April 11, 1942 in Cape Town, South Africa, in the middle of World War II, while her family lived in exile due to the Nazi occupation of Greece. The first months of her life were spent on a farm, surrounded by domestic animals and wild landscapes, in an environment far from the European palaces that would come to define her adulthood.<\/p>\n

From an early age, Princess Irene showed a personality of her own. She studied archaeology in Greece, another common interest with her sister, but soon broadened her horizons to the East. She spent six years in India, where she came into contact with the Gandhi family and was trained in comparative religious studies in ancient Madras.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Princess Irene of Greece performing Bach at the Royal Festival Hall in London, 1969.<\/p>\n

Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, the inseparable younger sister of Spain\u2019s Queen Sof\u00eda, has passed away in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[11994,2000,299,127292,1490,23502,448,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-700466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-digital_syndication","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-obit","12":"tag-obituaries","13":"tag-obituary","14":"tag-royals","15":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115906275136609502","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}