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En garde! Princess Leonor of Spain competed in the XXIV Sports Championship of Military Academies for Officers (InterAcademia) over the weekend. King Felipe and Queen Letizia ’s 18-year-old daughter and her team came in second place in the mixed team fencing competition. The Princess of Asturias was pictured sporting her medal as she stood on a podium with her teammates from Zaragoza.
In addition to fencing during the sporting event, the Princess of Asturias reportedly also competed in volleyball. According to Spain’s Ministry of Defence, “Representative teams from the Academia General Militar (Army), The Escuela Naval Militar (Navy), Academia General del Aire (Air Force) and from the year 2017, the Academia Central de la Defensa (Defense), take part in the competitions” at the InterAcademia event.
Leonor began her first year of military training last August at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza. Her second year (2024-2025) “will be carried out in the Navy and will be carried out with the employment of Midshipman both in the Naval Military School of Marín, and aboard the Training Ship Juan Sebastián de Elcano, during its training voyage,” per Casa de S.M. el Rey. The future Queen of Spain will then “complete her third year in the Air and Space Army, joining the San Javier General Air Academy for the 2025-2026 academic year as a Student Ensign.”
Casa de S.M. el Rey has said that King Felipe and Queen Letizia consider their firstborn’s military training “very convenient and valuable: it reinforces the capabilities of service and dedication, and facilitates the representation tasks that she must assume, as Heir of the Crown of Spain, in accordance with the provisions of Title II of the Constitution.”