For two years Eleanor of Bourbon has been Princess of Wales. Yesterday, with her international baccalaureate diploma, she said goodbye to Atlantic College in a graduation ceremony in which, like the rest of the students, she was accompanied by her parents, the Reis, and her sister, the Infanta Sofia The next time the heiress returns to a training center will be on August 17, when she enters the General Military Academy in Zaragoza.
Princess Eleonor has spent the last two years at the medieval castle of Sant Donat, one of the outbuildings of the site occupied by Atlantic College, located on the south coast of Wales, 35 kilometers from Cardiff and 270 from London. Yesterday the Kings, with the infanta Sofia, flew directly from Madrid to Cardiff to attend the graduation. Zarzuela considered the occasion a private event, but she provided a series of photographs in which the emotion and family harmony was verified.
Eleonor de Borbó received a diploma that did not state her title, but her tutor, after handing it to her, highlighted the nobility of her character: "Eleonor, your love for deep conversations has no limits . Your determined passion for learning, understanding others and exploring diverse perspectives has truly enriched your experience. We will miss your sense of humor", said the teacher, who moved both the student and her parents.
Princess Eleanor first set foot in the Welsh center on August 30, 2021. Zarzuela then provided photos of her arrival at Atlantic College, which were preceded by other family images, captured that the same day at Barajas airport, where the Kings and Infanta Sofia went to see Eleonor off. Since that moment, no more images have been captured, nor is there any information about the heiress's studies. It is known that, in these two years, he has shared a room with three students and has participated in the extracurricular activities of the center, which include work in the social and environmental fields. His grades have not been made available, nor information about his favorite subjects, but he has successfully passed both courses. Until yesterday it was not known that Elionor has shared these two courses with 164 other students – 63 boys and 101 girls – from 57 different countries, of which only 7 are Spanish and 13 had Spanish as their first language. Although they communicated in English, the rest of their colleagues spoke, as their mother tongue, up to 41 languages.
All the students received their diplomas in a ceremony known as the Leavers celebration, far from the formality, protocol and uniformity of other elite schools. The event took place in a marquee, set up for the occasion in the gardens, with chairs for family members and students (around 500 people) and a platform, like a stage, where the students received the diplomas after being called by the teachers. Around the stage were placed the flags of the countries that correspond to the nationalities of the different students, as well as that of the United Kingdom.
Neither the graduates nor the teaching staff wore gowns or caps, and in general, despite the solemnity, the ceremony, which closed with a speech by the director of the center, exuded an air of familiarity and closeness.
Atlantic College is a private center where students enter after passing several blind tests, in which a committee assesses their abilities without knowing their identity. Integrated into the World Colleges (UWC) network, it is a secular center whose pedagogical foundations are education for peace and intercultural coexistence. Most students pay around 45,000 euros per year, which includes classes, accommodation and maintenance, but there are also places with scholarships. The Kings have assumed with their allocation the cost of Princess Eleonor's two courses.
Infanta Sofia, who accompanied her parents to graduation yesterday, will follow in Princess Eleonor's footsteps, since at the end of August she will enter Atlantic College to study, like her sister, the two years of high school international
In addition to Eleonor de Borbó, Alexia, the middle daughter of the kings of Holland, also graduated, who also completed two years of high school.
King William, sitting with the Kings, and who studied at the same center almost four decades ago, attended the graduation ceremony.
