Leonor de Borbón: ex officio, queen; by profession, military, and employment, captain general

Princess Leonor after her speech at the Princess of Girona Foundation awards ceremony, in July last year. Gianluca Battista

It is not yet known what university degree the Princess of Asturias will take when she completes her military training, in 2026. It is certain that she will study a career and probably a postgraduate course.

Her father, Felipe VI, the first Spanish monarch with a university degree, studied Law at the Autonomous University of Madrid and obtained a master's degree in International Relations at Georgetown University (Washington).

But the first profession of Felipe VI, like that of his father, Juan Carlos I, is that of a soldier.

It will also be that of his daughter Leonor.

The Princess of Asturias could have known the Armed Forces in depth without having to spend three years in the military academies.

Several Spanish universities offer official master's degrees in Security and Defense, such as the one taught by the Gutiérrez Mellado University Institute in collaboration with the UNED.

The Higher School of the Armed Forces (Esfas), under the Ministry of Defence, also offers courses that include visits to military units.

But it is not just that the heiress to the throne of Spain knows the military, but that she is one of them.

Leonor de Borbón y Ortiz will be part, with the number one rank, of the promotions that will leave in 2027 from the academies of the Army, the Navy and the Air and Space Army.

And she will ascend at the rate they do, at least until she succeeds her father to the throne, generating bonds of affection and complicity with her comrades in arms.

After 35 years, Felipe VI continues to attend the annual camaraderie meal celebrated by the members of his promotion as one more.

The judges administer justice in the name of the King, but the King is not a judge, nor is he a diplomat, even though he signs the credentials of the heads of mission and it is said of him that he is "the best ambassador of Spain".

Instead, he is a military man.

The Monarchy has always gone hand in hand with the militia.

Article 62 of the Constitution grants whoever occupies the Head of State the supreme command of the Armed Forces, and the Military Career Law, of 2007, attributes exclusively to him the job of captain general of the three armies;

general captain in the case of being a woman.

The future queen had to be, therefore, a professional soldier;

otherwise, military experts argue, she would not be able to wear the uniform at formal events

It is surprising, however, that the career model designed for the heiress is the same that her father followed, more than three decades ago.

The decree published this Wednesday in the BOE reproduces verbatim that of September 17, 1999, which regulated the military career of Felipe de Borbón, both with regard to his promotion regime and the custody of his military record in La Zarzuela.

The differences between the two decrees are in the preamble, since the current one emphasizes that the entry of Leonor de Borbón into the military academies "reinforces the increasingly relevant role of women in the Armed Forces."

And also in the fact that, when the decree on Felipe VI's military career was approved, under the protection of a 1999 law, he had already completed his training cycle in military academies,

Saving the distance between the current educational programs and those of then, the itinerary that the eldest daughter of the Reyes will follow will be the same as that of her father: one year at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza, another at the Marín Naval School and another at the San Javier Air Academy.

With the Army, he will learn the rigors of military life, with field trips and maneuvers;

With the Navy, he will sail on the

school ship —although predictably he will not make the entire voyage—;

and with the Air Force he will learn to fly the instruction planes, the T-35 Pillán and the new PC-21 Pilatus.

His father and his grandfather also took a helicopter pilot course.

Leonor de Borbón will have a support team for her military training led by a tutor.

According to different sources, this role could fall to Lieutenant Colonel Margarita Pardo de Santayana, daughter of the former Chief of Staff of the Army Alfonso Pardo de Santayana, stationed in the King's Military Room.

When in 2027 she receives the office of lieutenant of the Land and Air armies and that of naval ensign of the Navy, the Princess of Asturias will not obtain, like her colleagues, an engineering degree from the university center associated with the corresponding academy military, since his plan will focus on strictly military training.

To have a civil title she will have to go to a university, public or private.

02:38

Margarita Robles, Minister of Defense: "Leonor will attend military training for three years"

The Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, after participating in the events of the 212th anniversary of the Battle of La Barrosa that took place in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz). Photo: EFE/Román Ríos |

Video: EFE

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber