Neither crawling through the mud during the maneuvers, nor parading under the sun in a winter uniform, the true test that Princess Leonor has passed is walking through the different rooms of the Royal Palace this Thursday followed by the guests, after having greeted them one by one , together with the Kings, in a ritual that lasted more than an hour. Accompanied by her mother, the Queen, at all times, the Princess has conveyed to her interlocutors her satisfaction with those first weeks at the Zaragoza Academy and her joy because some of her classmates have I was able to accompany you at the reception
Leonor de Borbón has definitely grown up. October 12 has been her litmus test. Shortly before 11 in the morning, she got off alone from the Mercedes that was following the Rolls Royce in which her parents were traveling, to attend, from the stands, the traditional parade that, on this occasion, was held on the promenade. of the Prado. Dressed in a cadet's gala uniform, which includes her head covered with the grancé beret, the Princess listened to the national anthem in a position of respectful salute, as did all the soldiers present, including the King who, on this occasion, wore gala uniform of captain general of the Air Force. Both the King and his daughter wore the Golden Fleece decoration on their bowties.
The first joint act of the King and Princess, father and daughter, cadet and supreme chief of the Armed Forces, has led them to participate in the tribute to the fallen when Leonor has escorted her father in the process of placing a laurel wreath in memory of the deceased soldiers. The young woman has fulfilled that first institutional role, with as much symbolic weight as she, if she had done it many other times, almost without blinking she has followed her father and has bowed her head for those who are absent.
After watching the parade from the grandstand, the Kings and the Princess traveled to the Royal Palace, where they greeted each and every one of the almost two thousand guests. The King, who last Sunday injured his left wrist after a fall and will have to wear a splint for three or four weeks due to a fissure in the scaphoid, changed his uniform for a civilian suit, but the Princess remained dressed in her royal attire. cadet; Lucky since it includes flat shoes. Leonor remained in uniform because she attended the reception as a cadet, as did her classmates and the rest of the soldiers present. The Queen, wearing a blue dress with a white print by the designer Juan Vidal, has chosen to wear low-heeled shoes and even so, the greeting to the guests was interrupted three times so that the three could walk a little and face a new round of greetings while standing.
This year, the guests have been distributed in the different rooms, with a certain segregation between politicians and journalists, a dissuasive maneuver that ultimately has not prevented the statements of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who went out to meet the media in a passage room. The high number of guests has forced three rooms to be set up. Columns, Halberdiers and Dining Room, which has allowed for greater space, but has also dispersed the guests. All of them, however, with a little patience, have been able to coincide with the Kings and the Princess who have been passing through the different rooms, between 2:30 p.m. when the greeting ended, until after 4:30 p.m. The Queen has not separated from Leonor, sheltering her in her first experience in front of a mass gathering and also protecting her from general curiosity. Leonor, prudent, has handled herself perfectly, showing herself sincerely satisfied with her experience at the Military Academy, while the Queen, on all occasions, looked at her proudly confirming that she had adapted perfectly and that the experience was proving very enriching in all aspects.
