It is not, however, her first experience of student life away from the palace. Before beginning her military training, Princess Leonor studied for the International Baccalaureate at UWC Atlantic College in Wales, the famously progressive boarding school often dubbed ‘hippy Hogwarts’. The institution has welcomed an impressive roll call of royal alumni, including King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Princess Raiyah bint Hussein of Jordan. Leonor’s younger sister, Infanta Sofía, has also followed in her footsteps at the school.
The princess’s latest milestone comes as she continues to assume a more prominent role within the Spanish royal family. In 2024, she attended the Princess of Asturias Awards for the first time as an adult, taking on the responsibility of praising the laureates in her address. The ceremony was another important step in a journey that began with her first speech at the awards in 2019, when she was just 13.
The Princess of Asturias is no stranger to public duties, having delivered her first speech at the Princess of Asturias Awards in 2019, when she was just 13
Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images
At the 2025 ceremony, Leonor again took centre stage, delivering an address to the winners and formally convening the following year’s awards. King Felipe, meanwhile, indicated that the time had come to begin handing more of the occasion over to his daughter, who has served as honorary president of the Princess of Asturias Foundation since his accession in 2014. The awards, which celebrate outstanding achievements across the arts, sciences, humanities and international cooperation, have become an increasingly important platform for the young royal.
As Leonor settles into her new university routine, the contrast between her ordinary student wardrobe and her extraordinary future could hardly be more striking. She is set to become Spain’s first queen regnant since Isabella II, who reigned during the 19th century. For now, however, the princess has four years of lectures, essays and examinations ahead of her – a new education for a young woman who will one day inherit the Spanish crown.