Leonor de Borbón's life as heir to the Crown of Spain begins next Tuesday, October 31. Shortly before noon, from the platform that has been placed on the presidential tribune of Congress, and with her hand on the same copy with which her father, Felipe VI, swore an oath and that her grandfather, Juan Carlos I, sanctioned, the Princess of Asturias and Girona, will not only commit to “guarding and ensuring that the Constitution is preserved”, will also acquire from that moment the ability to be proclaimed queen.
Thirty-seven years and ten months after her father took part in the same act, Leonor de Borbón Ortiz will follow in his footsteps as she has been doing since June 18, 2014, after the proclamation of Felipe VI, at the age of 8, she acquired the status of Princess of Asturias.
The life of the first-born daughter of Kings Felipe and Letizia developed within a strictly family environment while her father was Prince of Asturias. The girl appeared with her parents on vacation in Mallorca or on her first days at school, but it was not until January 30, 2018, the date on which her father turned 50, when Leonor began to dress like an heiress and did so. to hang from her blue dress the insignia of the Golden Fleece, the highest distinction granted by the Spanish monarchy and that her father gave her when she turned 10, although she waited a while to celebrate the solemn act of imposing the girl to be something elderly.
On a day that marked his life, Felipe VI put the focus on his daughter, a 12-year-old girl who, for the first time, bowed in public before the King. She then listened as her father gave her the first life lesson: “Leonor, all the actions of your life must be guided by dignity and exemplarity, by honesty and integrity, by the capacity for renunciation and sacrifice, and by your dedication.” without reservation to your country and your people.”
Moved by the symbolism of the act, the King continued addressing his daughter: “You must respect others, their ideas and their beliefs... you will be permanently guided by the Constitution and you will serve Spain with humility and you will make all concerns your own. joys, desires and feelings of the Spaniards.”
The Constitution was also present the first time Leonor spoke in public, since she started the list of readers of the Magna Carta in an act with which on October 31, 2018, the day she turned 13, she began to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the Magna Carta. The princess was given Article 1, which she read in a clear voice, surely trained by her mother, Queen Letizia: “Spain is constituted as a social and democratic State of Law, which advocates freedom, justice, equality and political pluralism. National sovereignty resides in the Spanish people, from whom the powers of the State emanate. The political form of the Spanish State is the parliamentary Monarchy.”
A year later, on October 18, 2019, in Oviedo, the heiress, about to turn 14, the age her father was on the same stage, gave her first speech at the Princess of Asturias awards ceremony and, shortly after, in the Princesa de Girona, where he expressed himself in Catalan. These two scenarios have since heard her words that have grown in depth and content.
Next Tuesday, before the Cortes Generales, his words will barely last 15 seconds, but they will be the ones that mark his life: “I swear to faithfully carry out my duties, to keep and ensure that the Constitution and the laws are kept and to respect the rights of citizens and the autonomous communities and loyalty to the king.”
