To become queen, she might have to wait many years. To prepare for that role, instead, Leonor of Bourbon has already begun for a long time.
The Princess of Asturias turned 20 on 31 October 2025 and is the heir to the throne of Spain.
If one day it happens to his father, King Felipe VI, Spain will return to having a queen reigning for the first time since the time of Isabella II, whose reign ended in 1868.
A historical interval that makes the route built around the future ruler particularly significant.
Its preparation has not only taken place within the royal palaces.
Leonor attended the UWC Atlantic College in Wales, an international institution in which students from numerous countries share study and daily life. Here he completed the Bachillerato Internacional and graduated in May 2023.
Then a completely different phase came.
In 2023, he started a three-year military training program designed to introduce the three components of the Spanish Armed Forces.
The first year was held at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza, linked to the Earth Army.
Subsequently it went to naval formation, which also included a period on board the school ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano.
In the third year, during the academic course 2025-2026, he attended the General Academy of Air and Space of San Javier, where he also followed a practical training of flight.
This is not just a symbolic preparation.
As a future ruler, Leonor would be called one day to assume the supreme command of the Armed Forces, attributed by the Spanish Constitution to the head of the state. Knowing those realities directly means preparing for one of the responsibilities associated with the Crown.
Besides military training there is academic and linguistic.
Since young he has studied several languages and has used more than one on public occasions. However, it is prudent to avoid very precise statements, often repeated online, according to which he would speak fluently seven or eight languages: studying a language does not necessarily mean mastering it fully.
And it is precisely this detail to tell the particular dimension of his life well.
At 20, most people are still trying to figure out which way to take.
Leonor, on the other hand, grew up knowing what institutional role might be called to cover.
You can't know when that time comes.
And succession is not a milestone linked to a predetermined date: it will depend on the future of the kingdom of his father and that of the Spanish monarchy.
But the preparation happens now.
International school, military training, languages, institutional commitments and progressive public exposure are part of a path built for a responsibility that could accompany it for much of life.
If one day he will ascend to the throne, historical photography will be immediate: Spain will have its first queen reigning from the end of the reign of Isabella II, in 1868.
But behind that picture there will have been years spent getting ready long before you know when the time comes.