Princess Leonor will begin her military training in September with her admission to the General Military Academy of the Army, in Zaragoza. The Heiress follows in the footsteps of her father and will receive training in the three Armies, in a plan that the Royal House and the Government have worked on jointly for months. It was the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, who detailed the news in the conference after the Council of Ministers, where the Royal Decree regulating her passage through the Academies was ratified. Article 2 of the Military Career Law provides that “the Prince of Asturias may develop a military career and have the military jobs that, by royal decree, the Government determines, which is empowered to establish its own and differentiated regime taking into account the demands of his high representation and his status as heir to the Crown of Spain”.

As explained by Minister Robles, “the House of His Majesty the King has understood that the Princess of Asturias has to receive military training”, in accordance with article 62 section H of the Spanish Constitution, which dictates that the King is responsible for “the supreme command of the Armed Forces”. The minister has affirmed that for the Government “it is magnificent news [the entrance of the Princess in the Armed Forces], as it highlights the normal functioning of the institutions”.

For its part, the Royal House explained in a statement that the King and Queen consider “that the military training of the Princess of Asturias is very convenient and valuable; it reinforces the service and delivery capabilities, and facilitates the representation tasks that she must assume as Heiress of the Crown”. In addition, “Princess Leonor knows of the demands and sacrifice that military life entails and she is very aware of the honor of training and serving alongside the men and women of our Armed Forces.”

To design the training plan for the King’s eldest daughter, Zarzuela has been inspired by the model of her father, Felipe VI, and Doña Leonor will take a course in each army, to learn the basics of all three. The Princess will start with the terrestrial branch, one of the oldest in the world, which has been in service since the 15th century.

Doña Leonor will finish school on May 20, the last school day of the UWC Atlantic College of Wales calendar, where she has completed the international baccalaureate modality. From that moment until September she will have free time, when she will enter the Zaragoza Academy, becoming a soldier of the LXXXIII promotion. Her grandfather, King Juan Carlos I belongs to the XIV and her father studied the Infantry cycle with the XLIV promotion. The Princess will join the Academy at the end of August or beginning of September. “She will enter the first course and will remain until the pledge of allegiance. Later, she will join the second course, to acquire the knowledge of the Army,” Robles detailed, who pointed out that she will begin with the job of Lieutenant.

The second year, the heiress will pass through the Naval Military School, located in the Pontevedra town of Marín since 1943. The Princess is going to join the third year and will embark in Elcano with the rest of the midshipmen. In addition, she will receive the job of naval lieutenant like the rest of her companions.

Doña Leonor will finish her military training at the General Air Academy in San Javier. Precisely in the academy the debut of the now Princess and her sister took place in a public act. It was in May 2014, a month before the abdication of her grandfather, to participate in the events of the 25th anniversary of the XLI promotion, to which Don Felipe belongs. There, also as a lieutenant, the Princess will join her fourth-year studies.

Zarzuela and the Government have closed the plan for the Princess to pass through the Academies taking into account the seniority of each army, but also a key moment in the life of the midshipmen who at the end of the course participate in a journey on the Juan Sebastián Elcano where They touch multiple ports. The presence of the Princess in the boat conditions the navigation program and the ports through which to pass, because if the Heiress follows in the footsteps of her father, she will have institutional commitments at each mooring. In addition, Minister Robles has recalled that this training will not be detrimental to her university studies, which she would pursue next.

When Princess Leonor comes to the throne, she will make history by becoming the first female Captain General of the three Spanish Armies. It is the rank that corresponds to the Head of State according to the Military Career Law of 2007. But it will also make a place for itself in a demanding world where the cut-off grade to access through the EBAU exceeds 12.

According to the latest report on the evolution of men and women in the Armed Forces, carried out by the Military Observatory for equality between men and women of the Ministry of Defence, women represent barely 12.9% of the 108,000 members of the Armed Forces. Armed Forces, being more present in the Common Corps (35%), the Navy (13.7), the Air (14.2) and Land (11.5). However, the trend increases every year since in 1994 Women were incorporated into the three Armies, thus, the average growth is one tenth a year.

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