Private and family act. The Infanta Sofía receives this Thursday, in the parish of Nuestra Señora de Aravaca (Madrid), the sacrament of confirmation by which she, at the age of 16, testifies to her belonging to her and her commitment to the teachings of the Church catholic. Together with her classmates from the Santa María de los Rosales school and accompanied by her parents, the Kings, her sister, the Princess of Asturias, Queen Sofía and her maternal grandparents, Paloma Rocasolano and Jesús Ortiz, Infanta Sofía repeats the family image Captured two years ago, when the protagonist was Princess Leonor.
Infanta Sofía wears a set of fuchsia trousers and a blouse while Princess Leonor wears a dress in maroon tones; Queen Leticia, white pants and pink blouse; the paternal grandmother, Queen Sofía, wearing black pants, a white blouse and a pink jacket with purple flowers; and the maternal grandmother a salmon-colored jacket suit. The infanta's maternal grandfather has come accompanied by his wife, Ana Togores. They have all posed at the entrance of the church where the confirmation ceremony of the infanta takes place in which the King acts as godfather, as he did in the confirmation of princess Leonor.
Outside the official agenda, because religious faith is considered an intimate issue, Zarzuela has framed the ceremony in the sphere of privacy, although the media have been allowed to take photos of the family upon their arrival and departure from the church.
From the very day of his proclamation, the King has made a separation between the representation of the Crown and his religious beliefs. This decision made the celebration yesterday, as already happened with the confirmation of Princess Leonor, and the respective first communions, in a strictly family event.
The teenager, who turned 16 on April 30, is one of the other twenty students in her class, along with those who, a couple of weeks ago, participated in a spiritual retreat that took place in a summer camp in the Guadarrama Mountains (Madrid)
Santa María de los Rosales, despite the fact that its character as a Catholic center is stated in its ideology, is open to students of all religions. Both the first communions (with 4th grade students) and confirmations are official and festive within the school. These rules are intended to highlight the religious nature of the sacrament to avoid mundane aspects. Although Catholic education is offered, it is not compulsory for students whose parents do not want it.
The Infanta Sofía received Communion on May 17, 2017, on an occasion that is impossible to repeat today. In the celebration, the King and Queen and Princess Leonor occupied three places on the bench that corresponded to them by their last name, while the grandparents, King Juan Carlos (currently residing in Abu Dhabi) and Sofia; Jesús Ortiz (accompanied by his wife, Ana Togores) and Paloma Rocasolano (also godmother of Sofía's baptism); the great-grandmother, Menchu Álvarez del Valle (died July 27, 2021) and the girl's godfather, Prince Constantine of Bulgaria, occupied a bench behind those occupied by the rest of the parents of the communicants.
With her father as godfather, on June 28, 2021, Princess Leonor received, along with her classmates from the Santa María de los Rosales school, the sacrament of confirmation. The ceremony, like the one this Thursday starring the Infanta Sofía, took place in the Asunción de Aravaca parish, the same one in which the heiress and her sister Sofía received their first communion. Due to sanitary restrictions due to the pandemic, the capacity inside the church was reduced and the Princess, who was wearing a simple blue dress, could only be accompanied by the King and Queen and the Infanta Sofía. Like all attendees, the royal family had to wear masks both inside and outside the church. After the ceremony, the Kings and their two daughters shared a meal in a grill near the Zarzuela palace.
Both Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía received their First Communion in their school uniform, made up of a gray skirt, white shirt, blue tie with yellow stripes and a navy blue blazer, ennobled for the occasion with the school's gold-embroidered crest and wearing a Rosary as a religious symbol. In the Confirmation ceremony, the students are left free to wear the clothes they prefer, as long as they conform to a minimum of decorum and austerity.
As Princess Leonor did shortly before receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, a fortnight ago the Infanta, together with other participants in the ceremony, did some preparation spiritual exercises that took place in a summer camp located in the Sierra de Guadarrama.
The most notable difference between Leonor's confirmation and the first communion ceremonies of each of the two sisters was the absence of family members, beyond her parents and sister, due to health reasons.
The Infanta Sofía concludes this year her time at the Santa María de los Rosales school, where she has attended preschool, primary and ESO. At the end of next August, he is scheduled to travel to Wales (Great Britain) to, following in the footsteps of his sister, Princess Eleanor, study the two baccalaureate courses at the Atlantic College boarding school, a center belonging to the Colleges of the World, which rises around Saint Donat's, a 12th century castle located in the Vale of Glamorgan, on the coast of South Wales.
