In the video, this unreal scene of the 84-year-old Queen Sofia of Spain cries during a speech in Madrid.

The event took place this Friday, October 27, at the Camilo José Cela University (UCJC) in Madrid. Spain’s Sofia, the wife of the former King of Spain Juan Carlos, was invited to preside over the ceremony on the occasion of the appointment of the scientist Emilio Lora-Tamayo as honorary rector for life. Paying tribute to the latter, the mother of Spain’s King Felipe VI, who is very dedicated to medical research, could not hide her emotion, recalling the “moments we spent together” before breaking down in tears. An unusual attitude for someone who had always shown control and composure until then.

The footage, filmed and shared by journalist and Spanish royal expert Eugenia Garavani, quickly went viral. “Long live Queen Sofia! “Queen Sofia wept inconsolably during the presentation of the honorary award of the Rector of Camilo Jose Sella University,” he wrote on his Instagram microblog. And continues. “Throughout her career as monarch, Sofia has maintained the composure that her institutional role demands. But after handing the award to the physicist, former president of the Supreme Council for Scientific Research, Emilio Lora-Tamayo, he could not hold back tears. This moment of vulnerability is unusual in the entire history of their actual actions and commitments.

An unreal and suspended moment, Queen Sofia of Spain rarely let her emotions show in public. The last time he was seen in such a state was last January, during the funeral of his brother, King Constantine II of Greece.