Princess Leonor, 17, heir presumptive to the Spanish throne, will undergo three years of military training from August, Spanish Defense Minister Margherita Robles said on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, the Spanish monarchy is struggling to rebuild its image after a series of scandals in the past decade, mostly linked to former King Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014 in favor of his son, King Felipe.
“As in all parliamentary monarchies, the (heir) must have a military background and a military career,” Robles said. “In an ideal moment, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces will be a woman, and in recent years we have made very important efforts to include women in the armed forces,” he added.
Felipe’s eldest daughter, Leonor, who will be completing her two-year course at UWC Atlantic College in Wales in a few months, will turn 18 in October. He is first in the line of succession, followed by his sister Sophia, unless a male heir is born.
The princess will complete her first year at the Army Military Academy in Zaragoza, then enroll in a naval school and complete her studies at the General Air Academy.
The government and the Royal House agreed that “very intensive” military training would precede university studies, following in his father’s footsteps in the 1980s.
Juan Carlos abdicated amid a tax fraud case involving members of the royal family and after a scandal involving an elephant hunting trip in Africa at a time when Spain was in deep recession.
The former monarch has now been living in Abu Dhabi since August 2020, when he left the country after several alleged fraud investigations were launched in Spain and Switzerland. The investigation was later discontinued.