Should Leonor ascend to the throne as expected, she will be Spain's first
queen regnant since her fourth great-grandmother
Isabella II, who reigned from 1833 to 1868.
Birth
Leonor was born on 31 October 2005 at 01:46 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.[2] As the daughter of the heir apparent, she was an
infanta and the second in the
line of succession to the Spanish throne.[3] Her birth was announced by the
royal family to the press via
SMS.[4]
Leonor left the Ruber International Hospital with her parents on 7 November 2005.[5][6] She was baptised in the
Zarzuela Palace by the
archbishop of Madrid,
CardinalAntonio Rouco Varela, on 14 January 2006.[7] Like her father, Leonor was baptized – with water from the
Jordan River – in a Romanesque baptismal font that has been used to christen Spanish princes since the 17th century.[8] Her godparents were her paternal grandparents, King Juan Carlos I and
Queen Sofía.[9] She received the name of Leonor de Todos los Santos.[10]
Education and military training
Leonor's education began at Escuela Infantil Guardia Real, the daycare for the children of the
Spanish Royal Guard.[11] She began her first year of primary school on 15 September 2008 at the Santa María de los Rosales School in
Aravaca, just outside Madrid.[12] Her father is an alumnus of the private school and her younger sister,
Sofía, is also enrolled there. In September 2021, she began studying a 2-year
International Baccalaureate program at the
UWC Atlantic College in the
Vale of Glamorgan,
Wales.[13] She graduated in May 2023, having completed her studies.[14] Leonor is fluent in both
Spanish and
English (the latter learnt from her British
nanny and also from her grandmother, Queen Sofía)[15] and has studied
Mandarin.[16]
In March 2023, it was announced by Spanish
Defense MinisterMargarita Robles that the government had approved a
royal decree for Leonor to begin a 3-year
military training education program.[17] On 17 August, she started her first year of training at the
General Military Academy in
Zaragoza.[18] In preparation for her role as Spain's
commander-in-chief, she will follow her father's footsteps with two further years of
naval and
air force training at the
Naval Military Academy in
Marín and the General Air Academy in
Murcia, respectively.[19] Whilst attending the military academies, Leonor will renounce her salary and any money that cadets receive.[20] Leonor is using both her parents' surnames "Borbón Ortiz" in her military career.[21]
Princess of Asturias
In May 2014, Leonor made her first official visit to the
San Javier Air Force base in
Murcia.[12] 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.[22] In October 2014, a wax figure of Leonor was unveiled at the Museo de Cera in Madrid.[23] On 20 May 2015, Leonor received
First Communion as per Catholic custom.[24][25]
According to the
Spanish constitution of 1978, the succession to the Spanish throne is under a system of
male-preference cognatic primogeniture,[26] 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.[12] There have been discussions[27][28][29] 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,[30] as of 2024 no legislation has been passed affecting the succession to the throne.
In September 2018, Leonor conducted her first public engagement outside the palace by accompanying her parents to
Covadonga to celebrate the 1,300th anniversary of the
Kingdom of Asturias.[36] 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.[37] The speech coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Constitution and her 13th birthday.[38] She made her first significant speech at
Premio Princesa de Asturias on 18 October 2019.[39]
She made her first speech on 4 November 2019 at the Princess of Girona Foundation awards in Barcelona,[40] in which she spoke in Spanish, Catalan, English and Arabic.[41]
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.[42]
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.[43][44] 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.[45]
Leonor swore allegiance to the
Spanish flag at the Military Academy on 7 October 2023, in the presence of her parents.[46]
Heir's oath
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.[47] This declared her as the heir to the Spanish throne.[48] 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.[49]
On 6 January 2024, Leonor attended the Pascua Militar for the first time, a more than two-centuries-old Spanish military celebration.[54] She attended the event not just as a heiress to her father, but also as member of the
Armed Forces.[55]
She is currently as of 2023 an officer cadet in the General Spanish Military Academy.
Honours
As heir to the throne, she is the nominal chairwoman of the
Princess of Asturias Foundation and the Princess of Girona Foundation. However, until she became 18, those functions were assumed by her father.[57][58]
Also, as traditional for the first 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).[59] 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).[60][61] On 31 October 2023, the
Congress of Deputies and the
Senate granted her the Gold Medals of the Spanish parliament.[62]
In 2015, one day before the Princess of Asturias' birthday, she was granted the
Order of the Golden Fleece. Since then, she has been able to use the coat of arms of the heir to the Spanish throne with the collar of the order. The government officially gazetted her use of the arms and standard by Royal Decree on her birthday.[63]
Crest
The crown of the Princess of Asturias
Escutcheon
The arms are divided into four quarters, blazoned as follows:
1st, Gules a castle three-towered Or, masoned Sable ajoure Azure (for Castile); 2nd, Argent a lion rampant Purpure, armed Gules and crowned Or (for León); 3rd, Or four pallets Gules (for Aragon); 4th, Gules a cross, saltire and orle of chains all linked Or, an emerald Proper for Navarre; Enté en point, Argent a pomegranate Proper seeded Gules, supported, sculpted and leafed in two leaves Vert (for Granada); Inescutcheon, Azure with three fleurs-de-lys Or, bordured Gules (for Bourbon).
Other elements
The whole is differenced by a blue label of three points azure.
^Marcos, Charo; Cernuda, Olalla (31 October 2005).
"Letizia Ortiz da a luz una niña". El Mundo (in Spanish). Mundinteractivos.
Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
^"Mérito, confianza y futuro". El País (in European Spanish). 1 November 2023.
Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.