The Kings have all been left alone in their residence in La Zarzuela. Princess Eleonor is at the Zaragoza Military Academy and Infanta Sofia flew to London yesterday to later go to Llantwit Major (Wales, United Kingdom), where the Atlantic College is located. Following in the footsteps of her sister, Elionor, and also on her own path, Sofia will study the two international baccalaureate courses on a boarding school.
La Zarzuela yesterday provided photographs of the farewell at the family residence of the Zarzuela and also of the arrival of the infanta in Wales. Jan, a labrador dog that the Kings gave to their youngest daughter when she made her first communion, also participated in the farewell to the infanta, as they had done two years earlier when Princess Eleonor received Sara, a another copy of the same breed. Each sister takes care of her pet, who live with other dogs in the compound where the Kings live in the Zarzuela.
Despite the fact that, since she was born, Sofia follows in the footsteps of Leonor, both in schools and in celebrations, with the entry of the heiress to the military academy and her coming of age, the paths of the two daughters of the Kings definitely separate. Sofia, whose love for animals we discovered yesterday, already shows a different personality and interests than her sister. The staging of the family farewell at the entrance to the family residence and not at the Barajas terminal, as happened in the case of Elio Nor, already serves as the first difference in the trajectories of the two sisters.
The Kings accompanied Infanta Sofia to the Barajas airport, where there was a family farewell off camera. When she arrived in London, where she flew from Madrid on a regular airliner, Sofia, like other Atlantic College students, traveled by coach to San Donato Castle. Some photographs were taken there that Zarzuela distributed late in the evening, in which Sofia can be seen around the boarding school.
When they arrived from the airport, the Kings, for the first time since Princess Eleanor was born almost 18 years ago, were all alone at home again and, like other parents with children studying abroad, they will have to get used to living alone without direct contact with their daughters. Princess Eleonor, who will swear the flag in Zaragoza on October 7, will return to Madrid for the celebrations on October 12, without it being announced at the moment whether she will participate in the parade or stand on the stage next to the kings The first vacation period at Atlantic College is scheduled between October 27 and November 5, for this reason it is not planned that Infanta Sofia will be present either at Princess Eleonor's flag swearing, or at the events of October 12. Nor will he be able to attend the Princess of Asturias awards that will be held in Oviedo on October 20.
As they did with Princess Eleonor's studies, the Kings will pay from their allocation the cost of Sofia's studies which, in this case, amounts to 74,000 pounds (about 82,000 euros) for the two courses. The UWC Atlantic College, where there are students from about 80 countries, belongs to the United World Colleges organization, which has an educational model that wants to promote cultural exchange and the coexistence of people from different countries and beliefs . Like her sister, Sofia will stay in a room with three other girls of different nationalities and will have to take on tasks such as cleaning and washing her clothes. The academic program combines science and arts subjects, along with other subjects such as creativity, sports and volunteer work.
