The Spanish princess Leonor will undergo three years of military training

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By Reuters

March 17, 2023 | 1:44 am

MADRID – Princess Leonor, 17 and heir presumptive to the Spanish throne, will undergo three years of military training from August, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said on Tuesday.

The Spanish monarchy is struggling to restore its image after a series of scandals over the past decade, mainly related to former king Juan Carlos abdicating in 2014 in favor of his son, King Felipe.

“As in all parliamentary monarchies, (the heir) must have a military background and career,” Robles said after a cabinet meeting.

Felipe’s eldest daughter Leonor, who will be completing her two-year high school education at UWC Atlantic College in Wales in a few months, will turn 18 in October.

She is first in line of succession unless a male heir is born, followed by her sister Sofia.

“In due course, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces will be a woman, and in recent years we have made a very significant effort to include women in the Armed Forces,” Robles said.

The princess receives her first year of training at the military military academy of the army in Zaragoza, then enters a naval school, where she must sail on the training ship Juan Sebastian Elcano, among other things, and completes her studies at the General Air Academy.

The government and the Royal Family have agreed that her ‘very intensive’ military training precedes university studies, thus following in the footsteps of her father in the 1980s.

Juan Carlos resigned amid a tax fraud case involving members of the royal family and after a scandal over his elephant hunting trip in Africa at a time when Spain was in a deep recession.

The former monarch has been living in Abu Dhabi since August 2020, when he left Spain after several investigations into alleged fraud were opened in Spain and Switzerland.

The investigations were subsequently stopped.