In three weeks, Princess Leonor will finally come back to Spain. She has been attending the UWC Atlantic College in Wales for six months. Her life at the boarding school has been full of adventures so far, but she will probably look forward to a little respite with her family.
After months of exams and presentations, Princess Leonor, 16, can finally sit back and relax. And where better to do that than in the bosom of the family? The daughter of King Felipe, 54, and Queen Letizia, 49, received the results of her exams on March 13, 2022, Spanish magazine Hola! has experienced. Grades that Mum and Dad should be more than happy with: your eldest should still have excellent grades. So no reason to worry. Now it’s time to enjoy the time together over Easter to the fullest.
Princess Leonor “is not afraid of anything”
It will certainly do Leonor good to spend a few days with her loved ones. Nevertheless, the teenager seems to have settled in well at the boarding school. “She is very independent, was fascinated by the educational model and was happy about her new life right from the start, because she is not afraid of anything,” assure voices from the Zarzuela Palace environment.
For Leonor, like many of her classmates, life at the boarding school will be a challenging but also exciting adventure on the way to adulthood. Although the corona pandemic has also restricted college students in Wales for a long time, the relaxation of the measures since March 6, 2022 promises a new freedom.
Easing measures bring freedom
The gates of St. Donat’s Castle are open again and the student bubble the students lived in is no more. In short: The 16-year-old has already gotten a little taste of “normal” college life, as it was before the corona pandemic. This also applies to her schoolmate Princess Alexia, 14, who started in Wales at the same time as Leonor in autumn 2021. Unfortunately, safety precautions are not entirely possible: the heir to the Spanish throne and the daughter of King Willem-Alexander, 54, and Queen Máxima, 50, like their comrades, still have to wear a mask in certain areas. In addition, only six people are allowed to stay in a dormitory at the same time. Exuberant pajama parties hardly stand a chance.
Nevertheless, the joy of the boarding school students will hardly be clouded by such gimmicks in view of the strict rules so far. Finally, the young people can explore the surroundings of the castle extensively. What prospects! All they have to do is report that they are leaving the premises and of course comply with the prescribed curfew. They are allowed to go out until 8:30 p.m. on weekends, but only until 7:30 p.m. during the week. After all, it is important to get up on time for class the next morning.
Labor-intensive months await Leonor
But now the long-awaited vacation time is about to start, which will catapult Leonor back into her old, familiar life for a short period of time – and to the side of her beloved sister Princess Sofia, 14, who can hardly wait to return home. Unfortunately, the time together will pass faster than the two would like. Nevertheless, it will certainly be used intensively.
Leonor will need the strength she has gathered from her loved ones for the coming months. When she returns to Wales from the Easter holidays she will take part in the Spring Forward programme, a measure to prepare for the next school year. For example, students are required to write a detailed 4,000-word essay on an international topic, including a 500-word reflection. But that’s no reason to worry: They don’t have to have the first draft ready until after the summer.
Gardening, cooking, singing karaoke: the elite college challenges and encourages
In addition, the college offers its students from a good or even aristocratic family plenty of opportunities to make themselves useful during their free time and to fill in everyday knowledge gaps: According to “Hola!” Leonor could prove her green fingers in the in-house greenhouse or take care of the animals on the farm. Theater courses and joint cinema evenings with subsequent discussions should quench their thirst for culture. And the topic of self-sufficiency is also tackled: the cooking spoon is swung under professional guidance. An option that could become quite useful to Leonor, at least during his studies, in an environment outside of the royal household.
The princesses rely on classics
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Of course, the teenagers are also given plenty of space for age-appropriate exchange. In “Café Moondance” they meet on Fridays for a glass of fruit punch, play billiards or sing karaoke. In the sports hall, Leonor and her friends can really work out in a wide variety of disciplines. A 24-hour run was recently organized for the charity Stop The Traffik, in which 30 teams from Atlantic College took part. With their sporting commitment, the participants collected donations for the movement, which fights against the still current problem of human trafficking in the world.
Camping trip into the wilderness
Doing good, learning new things and having adventures: Life at UWC Atlantic College is apparently never boring. After the Easter holidays, which end on April 24th, Leonor and her classmates will go camping in the Welsh wilderness – without a mobile phone, only with a sleeping bag, sleeping mat and the basic necessities. Common activities include hiking, canoeing, mountain biking, swimming, caving and a treasure hunt. The young people should learn to get along with few resources.
That’s what Leonor and Prince Charles have in common
After the summer, the UWC will celebrate its 60th anniversary. Incidentally, it was founded by the German educator Kurt Hahn (1886-1974), who had already set up the international private school Gordonstoun in Scotland in 1935. The educational reform school north of the town of Elgin was first attended by Prince Philip, †99, and later by his sons Prince Charles, 73, Prince Andrew, 62, and Prince Edward, 58. Like its counterpart in Wales, it is considered an excellent elite school.
The strict style of the Scottish school left a lasting impression on Queen Elizabeth’s husband, 95. But his eldest son in particular apparently has less fond memories of his stay there. Charles was allegedly bullied. Now, however, times have changed. The schools founded by Hahn have now abandoned the strict educational methods. So Princess Leonor should be in the best of hands.
Source used: hola.com