Princess Leonor of Spain will be the first woman to have the supreme command of the Army

Princess Leonor will receive military training just like her father, King Felipe VI.

Photo: EFE – David Borrat

Princess Leonor of Spain, heir to the throne and future head of the Armed Forces, will begin three years of military training in September, the government announced Tuesday.

The council of ministers approved “a Royal Decree regulating the training and military career of the Princess of Asturias”, announced the spokesperson for the executive of the socialist Pedro Sánchez, Isabel Rodríguez, at the press conference after the weekly meeting of the cabinet.

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The daughter of Felipe VI will be 18 years old in October, and the royal house understood that she, “just as His Majesty the King did, and just as is done in other parliamentary monarchies, has to receive military training,” explained the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, in the same press conference.

Robles specified that Leonor will complete the secondary studies that she is currently studying in Wales, in the United Kingdom, and in September she will begin a year of training in the Army, followed by another in the Navy and another in the Air Force.

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“The 2023-2024 course will be held at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza”, in Aragón (northeast), “the 2024-2025 course in the Navy, at the Naval School in Marín”, in Galicia (northwest), and “the The 2025-2026 academic year will be carried out by the General Air Academy in San Javier”, in Murcia (southeast), explained the Defense Minister.

In recent years We are making a very important effort to incorporate women into the Armed Forces”, Robles remarked, recalling that Leonor will be the first woman to hold “the supreme command” of the Army.

If she follows the same educational itinerary as her father, Leonor will also study at a Spanish university -he graduated in law from the Complutense University of Madrid-, and then he will do a master’s degree abroad -her father studied international relations at the University from Georgetown, Washington.

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In a statement, the Royal House recalled that “in European parliamentary monarchies it is a widely observed and shared tradition that future Heads of State develop a military career.”

“This practice”, the Royal House verified, “is based on the fact that, in most cases and in the terms and with the scope provided and regulated in the different constitutional texts, they are attributed the supreme command of the Armed Forces. This is how our own Constitution does it.”

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