Spanish
Leonor de Borbón y Ortiz, born on October 31, 2005 in Madrid, is the Princess of Asturias and the heir to the throne of Spain as the eldest daughter of King Felipe VI and his consort, Queen Letizia.
Her birth reopened a debate about the succession established in the Constitution, which prefers males over females. She was baptized on January 14, 2006, in a ceremony at the Palace of Zarzuela officiated by the Archbishop of Madrid, which was attended by just over eighty people. A Romanesque baptismal font was used, employed in the baptisms of Spanish princes and infantes since the 17th century and originally used by Saint Dominic de Guzmán, as well as water from the Jordan River.
Leonor was born during the reign of her grandfather, King Juan Carlos I. She attended primary and secondary school at the Colegio de Santa María de los Rosales in Madrid, the same school where her father was educated.
After finishing secondary education, he completed an International Baccalaureate at the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, in the United Kingdom.
Since her father's proclamation as king on June 19, 2014, Leonor holds the traditional titles of the heir: Princess of Asturias, Princess of Girona, Princess of Viana, Duchess of Montblanch, Countess of Cervera and Lady of Balaguer.
In August 2023, she began a three-year military training that includes instruction in the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. She started at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza, where she swore allegiance to the flag in October 2023. In July 2024, she was promoted to the rank of cadet ensign and received the Grand Cross of Military Merit. In August 2024, she entered the Naval Military School of Marín as a midshipman and, in January 2025, embarked on the training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano for a five-month voyage.
You may be interested in: Princess Leonor arrives in Santo Domingo aboard the training ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano
She attended an official reception for the first time in the Hall of Columns of the Royal Palace of Madrid on the occasion of the victory of the Spanish national football team in the 2010 World Cup along with the King and Queen, her parents, Infanta Sofía and Infanta Elena.
On October 30, 2015, the eve of her tenth birthday, her father King Felipe awarded Leonor the Golden Fleece, the highest dynastic decoration in Spain.
Important Appearances
On October 31, 2018, coinciding with her 13th birthday, Leonor spoke her first words in a public act, reading article 1 of the Preliminary Title of the Constitution at the headquarters of the Instituto Cervantes in Madrid.
On October 18, 2019, she gave her first speech at the Princess of Asturias Awards. On March 24, 2021, at the age of fifteen, she presided over her first solo event on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Cervantes Institute, and on July 16, 2022, she held her first international event. She did so without the presence of her parents, although she was accompanied by her younger sister, Infanta Sofía.
Link with Asturias
Leonor maintains a close relationship with Asturias, her mother's homeland. In October 2024, she received the Gold Medal of the Principality and was named honorary mayor of Oviedo. During her speech, she expressed her pride in her Asturian heritage and fondly remembered her childhood visits to the region.
