Princess Leonor turns 21 and strengthens her role as heir to the Crown

The Princess of Asturias, Leonor de Borbón, turns 21 this Saturday, October 31, immersed in her life as a university student, which she balances with her institutional role as heir to the Crown.

After completing her three-year military training following her time in the Army, in Zaragoza; the Navy, in Marín (Pontevedra) and on the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano; and the General Air Academy, in San Javier (Murcia), Princess Leonor began her university stage, just as her father, King Felipe VI, did.

It was on September 7th when Leonor de Borbón began her studies at the Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences of the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M), on the Getafe campus (Madrid), where she will study for a four-year degree in Political Science.

Princess Leonor university

Princess Leonor upon her arrival at the Getafe Campus of the Carlos III University on her first day of the academic year.

With a schedule from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with no classes on Thursdays, the princess studies subjects related to Political Science, Humanities, Law, Economics, Sociology, History, and International Relations.

Princess Leonor balances this period of her higher education, in accordance with the corresponding university calendar, with her institutional commitments as heir to the Crown, just as she did during her two-year international academic training at UWC College in Wales and her military training over the previous three years.

Its growing institutional role

This is how it was a week ago at the events organized for the presentation of the awards that bear her name at the Campoamor Theater in Oviedo together with her parents, the King and Queen, and her sister, Infanta Sofía.

An occasion in which she took a further step in her growing institutional role by presenting the insignia and receiving the awardees in an audience alone, without the presence of the rest of the royal family as had been customary until now.

And in her speech during the ceremony, the princess once again emphasized the youth and invoked hope in the face of “a certain discouragement, perhaps skepticism, perhaps indignation” that she perceives today, and referred to the questions that young people ask themselves today about how to maintain “enthusiasm in these times of profound social disenchantment.”

Although her military training has concluded, it will not be until next July that the Princess of Asturias receives the commissions of Lieutenant of Infantry in the Army, Lieutenant of the Flight specialty in the Air and Space Force, and Ensign of the Navy from the hands of the King.