King Felipe has honoured his mother with Spain’s highest order, Order of the Golden Fleece, on the upcoming 50th anniversary of her accession as Queen.
On January 10, 2025, the Official Bulletin of Spain (BOE), which publishes all laws and decisions of the country, promulgated Royal Decree 116/2024, signed by King Felipe on October 29, 2024. According to the decree, King Felipe honoured his mother with the Order as evidence of his “royal gratitude to Her Majesty Queen Sofía” and “publicly recognises her dedication in the service of Spain and the Crown.”
The Order of the Golden Fleece is Spain’s highest honour. Felipe has conferred the Order only once during his reign, in 2015, when it was awarded to the Princess of Asturias, Leonor, who was 10 years old at the time; she received the Order herself much later.
Before Leonor, only three women had been honoured with the Order of the Golden Fleece. They were Queen Margrethe II, Queen Beatrix and Queen Elizabeth II. Leonor was the first woman from the Spanish royal family to be honoured with the Order.
The Order was established by Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, on the day of his wedding to Princess Isabella of Portugal. Dynastic Order, one of the oldest and most honourable awards in Europe. The statute of the Order exists to this day in two branches (Spanish and Austrian), and to award the Spanish branch has the right to King Felipe VI of Spain, and the Austrian – Charles of Habsburg-Lorraine.
The Order acquired extraordinary importance and practically became the highest honour of Europe. The importance of the Order has acquired, says the fact that most of the cavalier monarchs, in the name of which in Europe minted coins, placed on them the image of the Order exclusively, and on both sides, according to Spanish media.
