60 years since the visit of Juan Carlos and Sofía to the filming of ‘The Fall of the Roman Empire’ and the meeting with Sophia Loren that Sara Montiel caused?

On July 8, 1963, the government of the dictator Francisco Franco Send to Juan Carlos de Borbón and Sofia of Greece to Las Matas to, as we would say now, build the Spain brand. The then princes of Spain (a title invented by the regime) had been married for just over a year and since February they lived in the Zarzuela Palace. From her They had moved after rejecting a couple of real estate offers in exile: a palace in Athens offered by her parents, the Kings Paul and Frederick of Greeceand a little chalet in Estoril invited by his people, the counts of Barcelona, Juan and Maria de las Mercedes de Borbon. Determined to win the throne from within, the young people put themselves at the service of the caudillo, who saw in marriage a tool to improve his image abroad and not precisely with diplomatic excursions but with publicity.

In the town of Madrid, no ambassador was waiting for them, but rather the filming of The fall of the Roman Empire. A Hollywood blockbuster in which they participated Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Christopher Plumber, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Anthony Quayle, Omar Sharif and mel ferrer. To the parents of Felipe VI They were entrusted with the mission of greeting, smiling and chatting animatedly with the team, especially with the main figures, so that the photographs of the meeting would transmit the most Spanish joy. A week before they had traveled to that cardboard Ancient Rome, at their own risk, the Duchess of Alba and the Countess of Quintanilla.

The images of the princes Juan Carlos and Sofía and the actors were taken during a break in which the Borbón, Boyd, Loren and Plummer took the opportunity to smoke a cigarette. In another capture, the Sofias laugh, probably, after a comment by the actress about some piece of her costume as Lucillathe emperor’s daughter Marcus Aurelius which he embodied. Or perhaps one pointed out to the other that at the press conference that the team had held in February, coinciding with the start of the recording, Sophia from Italy had adorned herself with a ruby ​​necklace from the jewelry store Van Cleef & Arpels identical to the one that the Greek shipowner Stavros Niarchos he had given Sofia from Greece for her wedding.