Leonor, Princess of Asturias

Leonor, Princess of AsturiasTemplate:Efn (;Template:Efn born 31 October 2005) is the heiress presumptive to the Spanish throne. She is the elder daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.

Leonor was born during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King Juan Carlos I. She was educated at Santa María de los Rosales School, like her father; after finishing her secondary studies, she studied for an International Baccalaureate at the UWC Atlantic College in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, United Kingdom. On 17 August 2023, Leonor joined the General Military Academy to start her 3-year military education.

In 2014, following her father's ascension to the throne after the abdication of her grandfather, Leonor was granted all the traditional titles of the heir to the Spanish crown, these are Princess of Asturias, Princess of Girona, Princess of Viana, Duchess of Montblanc, Countess of Cervera, and Lady of Balaguer. Leonor was formally proclaimed heir before the Cortes on 31 October 2023, her 18th birthday.

Should Leonor ascend to the throne as expected, she will be Spain's first queen regnant since her fourth great-grandmother Isabella II,Template:Efn who reigned from 1833 to 1868.

Early life and education

Leonor was born on 31 October 2005 at 01:46, three weeks before her due date, to Felipe and Letizia, then the Prince and Princess of Asturias, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King Juan Carlos I, in the Ruber International Hospital in Madrid using a caesarean section necessitated by non-progression of labour. As the daughter of the heir apparent, she was an infanta and the second in the line of succession to the Spanish throne. Her birth was announced by the royal family to the press via SMS.

Shortly after her birth, Leonor's umbilical cord stem cells were sent to a blood bank in Tucson, Arizona. This decision sparked public debate in Spain, as the blood bank was private and located abroad.

Leonor left the Ruber International Hospital with her parents on 7 November 2005. She was baptised in the Zarzuela Palace by the archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, on 14 January 2006. Like her father, Leonor was baptised – with water from the Jordan River – in a Romanesque baptismal font that has been used to christen Spanish princes since the 17th century. Her godparents were her paternal grandparents, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía. She received the name of Leonor de Todos los Santos.

During her early months, Leonor developed a small angioma, a benign tumor of blood vessels, on her nose. The angioma, which was visible during her baptism, was initially mistaken for a scratch. According to medical sources, such angiomas are common in newborns and typically disappear within a year or year and a half without the need for surgery. Despite media speculation about potential surgery, sources close to the Royal Family confirmed that no such procedure was ever considered, and the angioma disappeared within months.

Leonor's education began at Escuela Infantil Guardia Real, the daycare for the children of the Spanish Royal Guard. She began her first year of primary school on 15 September 2008 at the Santa María de los Rosales School in Aravaca, Madrid. Leonor was reported to have good grades during her studies in Rosales.

In September 2021, Leonor began studying a 2-year International Baccalaureate program at the UWC Atlantic College in the Llantwit Major, Wales. She completed her secondary education in May 2023. Leonor also attended summer camps in the United States. She is fluent in Spanish, Catalan and English (the latter learnt from her British nanny and also from her grandmother, Queen Sofía) and has studied French, Galician, Basque, Arabic and Mandarin.

Military service

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The King and the Princess of Asturias during the 2024 National Day of Spain.

In preparation for her role as Spain's commander-in-chief, following her father's footsteps, Leonor is currently spending three years of army, naval and air force training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, the Naval Military Academy in Marín and the General Air Academy in Murcia, respectively. In this sense, in March 2023, the minister of defense, Margarita Robles, announced that the government had approved a royal decree for Leonor to begin a 3-year military training education program. Leonor chose to use both of her parents surnames "Borbón Ortiz" in her military career. Also, whilst attending the military academies, Leonor will renounce her salary and any money that cadets receive.

On 17 August 2023, she started her first year of training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza. She received the officer's sabre on 19 September 2023. Leonor swore an oath of allegiance to the Spanish flag at the General Military Academy on 7 October 2023, in the presence of her parents. In January 2024, Leonor participated in the 24th Sports Championship of Military Academies for Officers, competing in fencing and volleyball as one of the representatives of the General Military Academy. Her team won a silver medal in the mixed team fencing competition. In June 2024, she closed the maneuver practices of the army training in the mountains of Navaleno and San Leonardo de Yagüe in Soria province. She was trained by Colonel José Gonzálvez Vallés and Lieutenant Colonel Margarita Pardo de Santayana. Leonor was promoted to the rank of Cadet Ensign (Template:Langx) and awarded the Grand Cross of Military Merit by her father King Felipe VI on 3 July 2024.

On 23 July 2024, the Council of Ministers appointed her as Midshipman (Template:Langx), preliminary step to join the Naval Military School at the end of August. On 29 August 2024, she started her naval training at the Naval Military Academy in Marín. In September 2024, Leonor and other students from the Naval School conducted seamanship instruction activities in the Pontevedra Estuary. On 8 January 2025, she boarded the training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano, beginning three days later a five-month voyage in which she trained as a sailor and visited many Latin American countries, as well as New York City. After disembarking at this last port, the heir to the Crown returned to Spain by plane to embark for a month on the frigate Blas de Lezo, where she will apply what she had learned and participate in naval maneuvers with live fire.

Princess of Asturias

Early years

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With her father, the King, during the 2018 Golden Fleece award ceremony at the Royal Palace.

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With her family and the main Spanish civil and military authorities during the 2019 National Day festivities.

In May 2014, Leonor made her first official visit to the San Javier Air Force base in Murcia. On 18 June 2014, King Juan Carlos signed the Abdication Act, and the following day at the stroke of midnight (18–19 June 2014) Leonor's father ascended the throne becoming King Felipe VI, and Leonor became his heir presumptive and Princess of Asturias. In October 2014, a wax figure of Leonor was unveiled at the Museo de Cera in Madrid. On 20 May 2015, Leonor received First Communion as per Catholic custom.

According to the Spanish constitution of 1978, the succession to the Spanish throne is under a system of male-preference cognatic primogeniture, meaning that Leonor, as the elder of Felipe's two daughters, is first in line to inherit the throne. Under the current law, however, if her father has a legitimate son while still king, Leonor would be displaced in the line of succession and again become an infanta of Spain. There have been discussions about changing the succession law to absolute primogeniture, allowing for the inheritance of the eldest child, regardless of sex; however, the birth of Leonor, followed by that of her younger sister Sofía, stalled these plans. Despite a change from male-preference to absolute primogeniture for Spanish titles of nobility in 2009, as of 2026 no legislation has been passed affecting the succession to the throne.

On a day before her 10th birthday, she was granted the Order of the Golden Fleece by her father. In addition, the Council of Ministers approved the design of her personal standard and guidon. Coinciding with the 50th birthday of King Felipe, in January 2018, the King officially gave Leonor the collar of the Golden Fleece in a ceremony at the Royal Palace of Madrid.

In September 2018, Leonor conducted her first public engagement outside the palace by accompanying her parents to Covadonga to celebrate the 1300th anniversary of the Kingdom of Asturias. On 31 October 2018, Leonor gave her first public speech, held at the Instituto Cervantes in Madrid, where she read the first article of the Constitution of Spain. The speech coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Constitution and her 13th birthday. She made her first significant speech at Premio Princesa de Asturias on 18 October 2019. She made her first speech on 4 November 2019 at the Princess of Girona Foundation awards in Barcelona, in which she spoke in Spanish, Catalan, English and Arabic.

Leonor carried out her first public solo engagement on 24 March 2021 by attending a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the Instituto Cervantes. Leonor made her first official international trip on 16 July 2022. She did it without the presence of her parents, although she was accompanied by her younger sister, Infanta Sofía. Together, they attended a match between Spain and Denmark at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. In December 2022, Leonor visited the Spanish Red Cross headquarters in Madrid where she met young volunteers of The Red Cross Youth, the youth section of the Spanish Red Cross.

Heir's oath

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Princess Leonor in a Spanish royal family Rolls-Royce Phantom IV during her 18th birthday parade in October 2023.

The Royal Household made public on 22 September 2023 that, as required under the Spanish Constitution, the princess would swear allegiance to the Constitution and the King upon reaching the age of majority. This declared her as the heir to the Spanish throne. At about 11:00 (CET) on 31 October 2023, her 18th birthday, the ceremony started when the royal family left the Palace of Zarzuela and was escorted by the Royal Guard through the streets of Madrid. At the Palacio de las Cortes the royal family received state honors, and the Princess of Asturias took her oath before a joint session of the Spanish Parliament, which received her oath with an ovation of more than four minutes.

After this ceremony, the royal family and the main authorities of the country went to the Royal Palace, where her father, King Felipe, awarded her with the Collar of the Order of Charles III, the highest civil honor in Spain. After a lunch at palace, the institutional event was over; the Royal Family held a private celebration at the Royal Palace of El Pardo. The entire paternal and maternal family attended this private event, as well as the Greek royal family, represented by Queen Anne-Marie and Princess Alexia and her husband, some members of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies including Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria, representatives of the Bulgarian royal family, and Princess Miriam Ghazi.

Official agenda

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The Princess and the President of Portugal during her first state visit, 2024.

On 6 January 2024, Leonor attended the Pascua Militar for the first time, a more than two-centuries-old Spanish military celebration. She attended the event not just as the heir to her father, but also as member of the Armed Forces. In May 2024, she attended the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the oath of allegiance to the Spanish flag of the 44th promotion of the General Military Academy.

On 12 July 2024, Leonor made her first official foreign visit. She was invited by Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to visit the country. In this trip, Leonor, who was accompanied by the Portuguese leader, the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, and the private secretary to the king, Camilo Villarino, focused her activities on environmental protection and ocean conservation, visiting the Lisbon Oceanarium and attending a debate on ocean protection. She also visited the Jerónimos Monastery, where she paid tribute to the poet Luís de Camões, and later went to Belém Palace, where delegations from both countries met and had a lunch, and where President Rebelo de Sousa awarded Leonor the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ.

On 25 October 2024, she attended the Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony for the first time as an adult, being in charge of giving the speech to the winners and, later, declaring the event closed and convening the awards for its next edition. It was the sixth awards ceremony she attended.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

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Princess Leonor and her parents with the prime minister (left) and the president of the Congress of Deputies (right) in November 2023.

As children of the prince of Asturias, Leonor was born infanta and initially styled "Her Royal Highness Infanta Doña Leonor". Upon her father's accession to the throne, Leonor became the heir presumptive to the Spanish throne, and she inherited the traditional titles of the heir: Princess of Asturias, Princess of Girona, Princess of Viana, Duchess of Montblanc, Countess of Cervera and Lady of Balaguer. Leonor is the 36th person to bear the title of princess of Asturias since its creation in 1388.

Since then, Leonor is generally styled as "Her Royal Highness The Princess of Asturias", although depending on the province of the country, another title may be added. For example, when visiting the territories of the former Crown of Aragon, she is usually titled "Her Royal Highness the Princess of Asturias and Girona" and, in Navarre, she is referred as "Her Royal Highness the Princess of Asturias and Viana".

Honours

As heir to the throne, she is the nominal chairwoman of the Princess of Asturias Foundation and the Princess of Girona Foundation. However, before she turned 18, those functions were assumed by her father.

Also, as is traditional for the first in line to the throne, her father invested her with the insignia (Collar, Medal and Bow) of the Order of the Golden Fleece (awarded 30 October 2015, presented 30 January 2018). On 10 October 2023, she was created a Dame of the Collar of the Order of Charles III (10 October 2023, presented 31 October 2023). On 31 October 2023, the Congress of Deputies and the Senate granted her the Gold Medals of the Spanish parliament. On 2 July 2024, she was awarded a Grand Cross of Military Merit with White Decoration (presented 3 July 2024). On 12 July 2024, she was awarded by the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ.

Coins

On 31 October 2023, the Royal Mint of Spain minted a gold-silver coin which depicts Leonor, to commemorate her coming of age as an emblematic event.

See also

• Princess of Asturias Awards
• Politics of Spain