2024-07-08 12:19:00
Queen Sophie of Spain and her sister, Princess Irene of Greece, opened an exhibition dedicated to Pablo Picasso on the island of Crete, July 5, 2024. The latter, aged 82, was seen for the first time in a wheelchair . Enough to raise questions about his health.
Return to the land of their childhood for Queen Sophie of Spain and her younger sister, Princess Irene, two Greek princesses who were born. Visiting the island of Crete, the daughters of King Paul and Queen Frederika, on July 5, attended the opening of an exhibition entitled Picasso in Crete: the joy of living, which brings together around sixty works by the Spanish painter at the Eleftherna museum. If the presence of the artist’s daughter, Paloma Picasso, and the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, attracted the press, it was the state of health of Princess Irene that still attracted attention. Visibly reduced, Felipe VI’s aunt appeared in a wheelchair for the first time, supported by a lady-in-waiting.
Queen Emeritus Sophie of Spain by Paloma Picasso (left) and the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou (right), at the Eleftherna Museum in Crete, July 5, 2024. © Stefanos Rapanis/Athena Pictures/Shutterstock
At 82 years old, Princess Irene already has health problems. In 2002, she announced that she was suffering from breast cancer. Six months of chemotherapy and several operations brought the disease to an end, but since then he is still subject to regular medical check-ups. Recently, the daily The country echo rumors of a decline in his cognitive state, without specifying the nature. Officially not part of the Spanish royal family, the royal court did not comment.
A famous pain
Princess Irene has always refused to marry and have children, being inseparable from her sister Queen Sophie, who has lived at Zarzuela Palace since her mother died in 1981. The princess has an atypical journey. The daughter of a king, she studied archeology and music, her two passions, and quickly became a renowned professional pianist. After the fall of the Greek monarchy in 1967, she spent several years with her mother in India. She then became passionate about Indian philosophy and studying the religions of the subcontinent. It is not surprising to see her, in 1985, saved thousands of dairy cows doomed to artificially maintain the slaughterhouse at the price of milk in Europe, a sacred animal in India. She herself goes to the country to donate these animals to the most deprived people.
Under Sophie’s shadow, Irene of Greece was able to win the affection of the Spanish, who appreciated her nobility and the support she always gave to her sister, not spared by the infidelities and absences of her husband Juan Carlos. Throughout the Pyrenees, the anxiety has been very real since the princess’s last appearance. Especially since the closure, on January 4, of her charity “World in Harmony”, to which she dedicated her family inheritance, rumors about her health. Still, the King of Spain’s aunt remains vigilant enough to travel to Crete and appear in public. Her last trip to the country of her childhood dates back to the beginning of the year, when she attended, on January 10, the one-year anniversary of the death of her brother, the former king Constantine II.
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