Spains Princess Leonor, 17, got dropped off at a military academy last week

I’m at the age where every teenager looks like a baby to me. People are like “oh, that 19-year-old is attractive” or “that 16-year-old is driving a car” and I look at those teens and I’m like “why are you talking that way about a literal baby?” So it is with Princess Leonor, the Crown Princess of Spain. Princess Leonor is 17 years old and she looks, to me, like she’s maybe 12 years old at most. In March, the Spanish royals announced that Princess Leonor would begin her mandatory three-year military training rather than go to university right away. King Felipe and Queen Letizia dropped off their eldest daughter late last week, and these are some of the palace-arranged photos of Leonor’s first day at boot camp (??).

It was an emotional farewell for the Spanish royal family as Princess Leonor, the heir presumptive, said goodbye to her parents and sister on Thursday to begin her three years of military training.

King Felipe VI donned military uniform as he joined his wife Queen Letizia and youngest daughter Infanta Sofia to drop off Leonor at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain. Speaking to reporters, Princess Leonor, who turns 18 in October, said she is facing the new chapter ‘with enthusiasm’ but admitted to also feeling ‘a little nervous’.

Queen Letizia, who will cheer on Spain in the Women’s World Cup final against England’s Lionesses on Sunday, looked emotional as she hugged her daughter goodbye on Thursday. Proud father King Felipe placed a protective hand on his daughter’s shoulder as she wheeled her suitcase to the entrance of the academy.

By attending Zaragoza – Spain’s equivalent of Sandhurst – Princess Leonor is following in the footsteps of King Felipe and her grandfather, the former King Juan Carlos. She will spend a year at the military academy, then go to a naval school where she will sail the Juan Sebastian de Elcano, a four masted schooner used by the Spanish navy for training, and finish her studies at the General Air Academy. As the heir presumptive, Leonor is expected to one day be commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

[From Tatler]

I’m ready to cry and I’m not even related to any of these people. Letizia must be going through it, sending her baby off to three years of military training. How did Letizia even manage to fly out to Australia after this?? She would have been well within her rights to sit in her closet and drink the whole weekend.

In case you’re wondering, she’s using the surname Borbón Ortiz on her uniform. Borbón because that’s the royal house of the Spanish royal family (like House of Windsor) and Ortiz because that is her mother’s maiden name.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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