Leonor, Princess of Asturias, is the elder daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain and the first in line to inherit the Spanish throne. Long before she took on her full set of royal titles or began her three-year military training, her education was already being deliberately shaped to prepare her for a lifetime of public service. This article walks through every stage of Leonor’s schooling from her early years in Madrid to an international boarding school in Wales and now a university degree in Madrid and explains how each stage fits into her broader path toward the throne.
Quick Facts: Leonor’s Education
| Fact | Detail |
| Full name | Leonor de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Ortiz |
| Title | Princess of Asturias, Girona and Viana; Duchess of Montblanc; Countess of Cervera |
| Primary school | Santa MarÃa de los Rosales School, Madrid (2011–2021) |
| Secondary school (final 2 years) | UWC Atlantic College, Wales, United Kingdom (2021–2023) |
| Secondary qualification | International Baccalaureate diploma, completed May 2023 |
| Post-military studies | Political Science degree, Carlos III Public University, Getafe campus, Madrid |
| Languages spoken | Spanish, Catalan, English, French, Galician, Basque, Arabic, and Mandarin |
| Military training period | August 2023 – July 2026 (Army, Navy, Air and Space Force) |
Who Is Leonor, Princess of Asturias?
Leonor de Borbón y Ortiz is the heir presumptive to the Spanish crown and holds the historic title Princess of Asturias, along with five other traditional titles tied to the historic kingdoms that unified to form modern Spain. She is the elder of two daughters born to King Felipe VI; Queen Letizia’s younger sister, Infanta SofÃa, was born in 2007. Readers curious about the full set of titles she holds and how they came to her can find a complete breakdown in our companion article, Leonor, Princess of Asturias: Her Full Royal Titles.
As the future head of state, Leonor’s education has always carried more weight than a typical school career; each stage was chosen with an eye toward building the languages, discipline, and international exposure expected of a modern constitutional monarch.
This deliberate structuring is not unusual among European royal families, but it is unusually visible in Leonor’s case, since Spanish media and the Royal Household itself have both framed her schooling, in retrospect, as a series of clearly defined stages rather than an ordinary, organically unfolding school career. Each transition from Madrid to Wales, from Wales to the military academies, and now from the academies to university has been treated as a milestone in its own right, reported on and marked publicly in a way that would be unusual for the education of a private citizen.
Primary and Early Secondary Education in Madrid
Leonor began her formal education at Santa MarÃa de los Rosales School in the Aravaca district of Madrid, the same school her father, King Felipe VI, attended as a child. She studied there from the age of five through the completion of her early secondary years, following a standard Spanish curriculum alongside children from outside the royal family.
- Location: Aravaca, Madrid, a short distance from Zarzuela Palace.
- Curriculum: standard Spanish national curriculum through the early secondary level.
- Notable detail: the same school attended by her father, King Felipe VI, decades earlier.
During these years, Leonor was largely kept out of the public eye, in keeping with the Spanish royal household’s general approach of shielding younger family members from media attention until they are old enough to take on public duties themselves.
UWC Atlantic College: Leonor’s Final Two Years of Secondary School
In 2021, Leonor left Madrid to complete her final two years of secondary education at UWC Atlantic College, a boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom. There, she studied for the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, an internationally recognised qualification distinct from Spain’s standard secondary school system.
- Institution: UWC Atlantic College, part of the United World Colleges network.
- Qualification: International Baccalaureate diploma.
- Duration: 2021 to May 2023, two academic years.
- Setting: a residential boarding school with students from dozens of countries.
Sending Leonor abroad for her final years of secondary school was widely seen as a deliberate decision by the Spanish royal household, giving her an international education comparable to that of other European heirs, several of whom have also studied through the United World Colleges network while placing her among a genuinely diverse student body rather than a school reserved for elites.
Summer Programmes and Language Learning
Alongside her formal schooling, Leonor’s education has placed heavy emphasis on language learning, reflecting both Spain’s own linguistic diversity and her future role representing the country internationally.
- Spanish and Catalan core to her upbringing and Spain’s own regional linguistic landscape.
- English and French developed further through international schooling and formal study.
- Galician and Basque reflecting the co-official languages spoken in different regions of Spain.
- Arabic and Mandarin were studied as part of her broader international preparation.
In total, Leonor is reported to speak eight languages, a language portfolio that reflects both Spain’s internal linguistic diversity and the international dimension of a modern head of state’s public role. Summer language and leadership programmes during her teenage years, including time spent in the United States, supplemented this formal instruction.
Military Training as a Continuation of Her Education
After completing her International Baccalaureate in May 2023, Leonor did not go directly to university. Instead, she entered a three-year military training programme across the Army, Navy, and Air and Space Force, beginning at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza in August 2023 and concluding at the General Air and Space Academy in San Javier in July 2026.
While not academic in the traditional sense, this period functioned as a distinct and demanding phase of her broader education, one focused on discipline, leadership, and institutional knowledge of the armed forces she is constitutionally expected to command as monarch. It is best understood not as a break from her education but as a structured continuation of it, following a path her father walked decades before her.
University: Political Science at Carlos III
With her military training complete, Leonor is set to begin a political science degree at the Getafe campus of Madrid’s Carlos III Public University. This marks her return to full-time academic study for the first time since leaving Wales and her first extended period living near Zarzuela Palace since 2021.
The choice of political science is a natural fit for a future head of state, offering formal grounding in the institutions, governance structures, and constitutional frameworks she will eventually be expected to understand in depth, complementing, rather than repeating, the practical leadership experience gained during her military training.
How Her Education Compares to Other European Royals
Leonor’s education places her among a small group of European royal heirs who have combined an international secondary education with structured military service before university. The United World Colleges network in particular has become a common choice for young European royals seeking a genuinely international, values-driven secondary education rather than a purely national one.
What distinguishes Leonor’s path is the sequencing: international secondary school, followed immediately by multi-year military training across three branches of the armed forces, and only then university – a structure that mirrors her father’s own trajectory almost exactly, decades apart.
Other examples include the Duke of Brabant in Belgium and members of the Dutch and Norwegian royal families, several of whom have also studied through international programmes before entering university. Few, however, combine that international schooling with the specific requirement of completing training across all three branches of the armed forces before beginning higher education – a distinctly Spanish feature of the preparation expected of its heir.
Public Speaking and Institutional Learning
Beyond formal schooling, Leonor’s education has included a steadily increasing number of public speaking engagements, which have functioned as a kind of practical, on-the-job training for her future role.
- 2018: read the opening article of the Spanish Constitution at a formal ceremony, her first major public appearance.
- 2019: delivered her first full public address at the Princess of Asturias Awards.
- 2023: swore a formal oath to the Spanish Constitution before the Cortes Generales on her 18th birthday.
These moments, while not part of a formal curriculum, are widely regarded by royal commentators as an essential complement to her academic and military education, building the public presence and institutional familiarity that no classroom alone could provide.
Each of these appearances required a different kind of preparation than schoolwork or military drills: coaching in public speaking, formal protocol, and the particular demands of speaking before Parliament or an international audience. Together with her academic and military training, this steady accumulation of public experience forms what might be called a fourth, unofficial track of Leonor’s education: learning to perform the role itself in real time in front of the country she is one day expected to lead.
What’s Next in Leonor’s Education?
With her secondary education, international exposure, and military training all complete, Leonor’s next educational chapter is squarely academic: a full political science degree, likely to run several years, undertaken while she also begins to take on a larger calendar of public duties as she approaches her 21st birthday in October 2026.
How she balances full-time university study with the institutional demands of being heir to the throne, including the final steps toward her full military commissions in 2027, detailed in our article on her military training, is likely to be one of the more closely watched aspects of her life over the next few years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Princess Leonor go to school?
She attended Santa MarÃa de los Rosales School in Madrid for her primary and early secondary education, then completed her final two years of secondary school at UWC Atlantic College in Wales.
What qualification did Princess Leonor earn in Wales?
She earned an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, completing the programme in May 2023.
Is Princess Leonor going to university?
Yes. After completing her military training in July 2026, she is set to begin a political science degree at the Getafe campus of Carlos III Public University in Madrid.
How many languages does Princess Leonor speak?
She is reported to speak eight languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, French, Galician, Basque, Arabic, and Mandarin.
Did Princess Leonor go straight to university after school?
No. After finishing her IB diploma in 2023, she completed a three-year military training programme across the Army, Navy, and Air and Space Force before beginning university.
Why did Princess Leonor study abroad in Wales?
Sending her to UWC Atlantic College was seen as a deliberate choice to give her an international education comparable to other European royal heirs, several of whom have studied through the same United World Colleges network.
Conclusion
Leonor’s education has been built in deliberate stages: a Spanish primary and early secondary education in Madrid, an international IB diploma in Wales, three years of military training across all three branches of the Spanish Armed Forces, and now a political science degree in Madrid. Combined with the full set of titles she has held since 2014 and her recently completed military service, her education forms the third major pillar of a long, carefully structured preparation for her eventual role as Spain’s next monarch.
References
Casa de S.M. el Rey (Spanish Royal Household). “S.A.R. la Princesa de Asturias – BiografÃa.” https://www.casareal.es/ES/FamiliaReal/PrincesaLeonor/Paginas/biografia.aspx
Wikipedia. “Leonor, Princess of Asturias.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonor,_Princess_of_Asturias
Wikipedia. “UWC Atlantic College.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UWC_Atlantic_College
Wikipedia. “Princess of Asturias Awards.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_of_Asturias_Awards
Thought Catalogue. “Princess Leonor of Spain Is 20, Speaks 8 Languages, Is Doing Military Service…” https://thoughtcatalog.com/nadia-santiago/2026/07/princess-leonor-of-spain-is-20-speaks-8-languages-is-doing-military-service-and-is-set-to-be-spains-first-reigning-queen-in-150-years/
HOLA! “Spanish Princess Leonor to wrap up military training in style.” (May 2026)
About the Author
This article was researched and written by the Royals & Culture Desk, a team focused on producing accurate, up-to-date explainers on European royal families, their history, and their public roles. All facts in this piece were verified against publicly available sources, as of August 2026.
