Queen Sofía of Spain

Born 2 November 1938, the eldest child of King Paul and Queen Frederica of Greece, she carried a lineage that reached back to Constantine I. In 1962 she married Infante Juan Carlos of Spain, converting faith and country in one stroke. When her father died in March 1964, she became heiress presumptive to Greece until her niece Alexia's birth in July 1965 moved her aside. Thirteen years later, Juan Carlos ascended the Spanish throne and she became queen in 1975, holding the role through Spain's transformation until his abdication on 19 June 2014 in favour of their son Felipe VI. Since then, she has carried the title queen emerita - the last living grandchild of Greece's King Constantine I, a woman who outlasted the thrones that shaped her.