“I understand what my duty is and what my responsibilities entail.” The words of the Princess of Asturias during her intervention at the presentation of the awards that bear her name, on the 20th, anticipated the obligations of the great moment that she will experience today with the oath of the Constitution that coincides with her coming of age . She spoke like a more mature princess committed to her duties as heir to the throne.

Leonor turns 18 today and starts a stage with various challenges ahead. A princess, still very unknown to the vast majority of Spaniards, will take on new responsibilities and greater visibility. Until now, “he had a very isolated, closed childhood, little exposed compared to his father and aunts. His parents decided that he would have few public appearances, let’s see if this has a positive or negative outcome,” emphasizes Ramón Pérez Maura , produced by Opinião in the Spanish daily El Debate. “Once he had a bigger public presence, his popularity started to increase.”

For José Antonio Zarzalejos, journalist and author of Felipe VI. The princess, a king in adversity, had “few appearances, but very well prepared”. His training and education plan ends this Tuesday with the oath of the Constitution and “this path was in the way and as predicted by his parents and corresponds to a parliamentary monarchy,” he emphasizes.

The location for today’s ceremony, the Congress Sessions Hall, is the same where his father, King Felipe VI, then Prince of Asturias, took the oath to the Constitution on January 30, 1986. The copy of the Magna Carta will also remain the same, but much has changed in the composition of Parliament.

“The Princess of Asturias will swear by a constitution that is currently being destroyed by the government itself and this reveals the challenges that she will sooner or later have to face. The amnesty law will harm Spain. And the king must be confronted with a government where there is no loyalty to the Crown,” Pérez Maura recalls. It is also a reminder that in the history of Western Europe there was no government with communist parties where the monarchy survived. “They fell in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece… Spain is the exception. It’s a big challenge for the Crown.”

Military and academic training

On August 17, the Princess of Asturias began her military training at the General Military Academy, where she will spend three years. First at the Army Academy (Zaragoza), then at the Armada (Marín, Galicia) and finally at the Air Army (San Javier, Murcia). During this period, he will prepare to assume supreme command of the armed forces as the future head of state, as laid down in the constitution.

After that, he will complete his university education and “he will follow an academic program like his father did. It is not a specific degree, he will study subjects in different specialties to get a global education,” explains the director of Opinion at El Debate out. . It is expected that he will complete his education abroad, as Felipe VI did. “Having the advantage of having a young and healthy father, with potential years of reign, Leonor has time to graduate. And she should take advantage of this time to get to know Spain,” he adds.

New challenges

Once her military and academic training was completed, the Royal House was to establish a private office for the Princess of Asturias, and begin to develop a personal agenda as delegated by her father. One of the challenges that Leonor will face in this future phase as a member of a parliamentary monarchy is connecting with new generations.

“It should help understand that the Crown and the parliamentary monarchy are state institutions and are useful for the integration of social pluralism and the transversal representation of citizens, both right and left,” Zarzalejos explains. It should be a common reference point, just like the father achieved.

One of the tasks he could take on is representing Spain at the inauguration of Ibero-American presidents.

Another of her major challenges will be being a woman and head of state in a country where there have been only two queens since the 16th century: Joan I (1504-1555) and Isabel II (1833-1868). “It is a great novelty to have a titular queen in the 21st century, the century of equality – it has a symbolic value. Especially for the Spanish, since we have had neither a president of government nor a head of state. [mulher] since 1833. With her, the women’s world will achieve maximum representation in the state judiciary,” said the journalist specialized in the Spanish monarchy.

The unknown princess

“Blonde, light eyes, a calm and well-behaved girl. She responds to the prototype of a princess,” begins by pointing to Carmen Enríquez, journalist and author of several books on the Spanish monarchy. A princess about whom little is known because ‘very few people had anything to do with her’.

It is in conversations with people who followed her journey more or less directly that Enríquez has been able to provide some clues about Leonor’s way of being and acting. The only known childhood mischief happened at school, when he bit a classmate who hit him, “normal for young children”.

Over the years, she has been “very responsible at school. Her parents have done a lot of work to make her understand what it means to be heir to the Crown,” the journalist says.

Something that characterized Leonor and her sister’s childhood was the presence of their parents in their education, as happens in most families. “They grew up with their parents. Felipe left his friends to go wash his daughters and he made it a point to be there whenever his schedule allowed,” he points out. Felipe and Letícia shared the task of taking their daughters to and from school. They also wanted to integrate with their friends and their families. “They also participated in birthday parties where their parents were present and went with them for other activities, with those they had more affinity with,” explains Carmen Enríquez.

José Antonio Zarzalejos also talks about the unprecedented relationship between daughters and their fathers within monarchies. “The kings did not leave the education of their daughters to teachers, but took direct charge of their education. It promoted a more normal life, they were very present,” he emphasizes.

During these years, Princess Leonor was very protected from the media. ‘We hardly saw her. The apparitions are numbered. A photo of the family at Christmas, at Easter with the family, in Mallorca, and then they opted for a cultural visit so that they would still have some visibility.’ In childhood, during the absence of the parents, it was the maternal grandmother who stayed with the granddaughters and organized their daily life. “Letícia has great faith in her mother,” says Enríquez. The emeritus kings would have liked more contact with them and they say Queen Sofia would have liked more freedom to be with her granddaughters. “When the economic scandals of King Juan Carlos I started to become known, the relationship with Corinna Larsen… was difficult,” he clarifies.

The relationship between mother and daughter is very good and close, also with her sister Sofia, “they are very good friends. Leonor is very protective of her younger sister,” the journalist explains. For Carmen Enríquez, the Kings have done very well with their daughters. “When they were born, like most parents, their main desire was to be the best parents to their daughters, and they achieved that.”

Like her father, the Princess of Asturias will have to get used to media and social pressure regarding matters of the heart. Some media published the existence of a friend in Wales, where he studied, “nothing that has been confirmed,” Enríquez explains. For the time being, the Princess of Asturias has no relationship with the European royal family. “Letícia made sure that her daughters did not give the image of just being princesses, and that her friendships extended beyond the royal family and the aristocracy.”