Thank you! My most admired and beloved Queen Sofia...my favourite Queen.
Persepolis was the first event where the then Princess Sofia wore Queen Maria Cristina's big pearl tiara. I find this tiara very imposing and beautiful. It was borrowed to her by her mother-in-law the Countess of Barcelona, to whom it was a wedding gift from King Alfonso XIII. Queen Ena never wore it.
It was later worn as bridal tiara by the King's eldest sister, Infanta Pilar, and also by her eldest daughter Simoneta. Infanta Pilar also wore it on the gala dinner of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Spain in the mid 1980's. It only reapeared a few years ago when the Queen start wearing it.
The photo with Queen Ena is from one of the receptions at the time of the 1953 coronation. On a rare ocasion the countess of Barcelona is wearing the Mellerio foam waves tiara. I am not even sure if this was in fact the only time she was photographed wearing it. And like Francisco Luis wrote, Queen Ena was indeed a regal lady up to her last years. A true grand dame.