Princess Leonor premieres at a Military Easter marked by the international context

Today Princess Leonor will mark a new date on the calendar of her path as heir to the throne. Lady Cadet Borbón Ortiz, in the uniform of the General Military Academy, will participate alongside Kings Felipe and Letizia – and the leaders of the Armies – in the Military Easter ceremony at the Royal Palace. A military ceremony that will be marked by the work of the Armed Forces abroad, within an uncertain international context: from the reinforcement of the eastern flank of Europe in the face of the Russian threat to the growing tension in Lebanon, through the doubts of the Spanish continuity in the Sahel. In the environment, no one doubts that Spain’s refusal to participate in the Mission in the Red Sea will also fly over.

The event will start at 12:00 p.m. with a stop in the Plaza de la Armería, in front of the Almudena Cathedral. There Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Princess Leonor will be received by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and the head of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

They will also be accompanied by the Chief of the Defense Staff (Jemad), Admiral Teodoro López Calderón, and the director of the Civil Guard, Leonardo Marcos. The ceremony will continue inside, in the Gasparini Room, of the palace with the greeting of about 200 guests. And later, the speeches in the Throne Room of the minister and the King.

It will then be when the balance of 2023 is taken and the lines of action for the following twelve months can be glimpsed. Last year Felipe Vi defended the importance of increasing military spending to confront the “unjustifiable” Russian aggression. On this occasion, in addition to the entrenched armed conflict in Ukraine, the world stage is marked by uncertainty in the Middle East. The international community fears that the war in Israel could spread to the area. And in one of the border countries, Lebanon, Spain has more than 600 soldiers deployed, under the umbrella of the United Nations.

Last year, Spain increased the presence of troops abroad to a total of 11,978 soldiers, who participated within the framework of the UN, NATO and the EU. This year, Spain is expected to lead a battalion of the Atlantic Alliance in Slovakia.

Until now, there were Spanish soldiers in Romania, Latvia or Lithuania. A detachment also continues, although reduced to a minimum in Mali, pending the continuity that the European Union will decide this month.

No reference is expected from either the king or the Minister of Defense to Spain’s “no” to the mission in the Red Sea sponsored by the United States. The Government, after days of back and forth, proposed creating a new international mission – so as not to reconvert Atalanta, which fights against piracy in the Indian Ocean – but it was ruled out. The news caused astonishment in military circles, according to what senior officials told La Vanguardia.

The event will close with a cocktail in the Hall of Columns, where the kings, the princess and the authorities will chat informally. It will be the second time that the Princess of Asturias will wear her military uniform in an official activity outside the military academy, after she did so last October 12 in the National Holiday parade and at the subsequent reception at the Palace Real.

Its premiere at Military Easter takes place after swearing in the Constitution on October 31 on the day of its 18th birthday and four and a half months after its entry into the Army Academy to begin its three-year military training. Leonor de Borbón retraces the steps of Felipe VI, who also participated for the first time in the Military Easter when he entered the AGM in 1986, although in her case he did so when he was 17 years old, three weeks before reaching his majority. age.