Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor
She receives the greatest honor of the city of Zaragoza
Princess Leonor is now an honorary citizen.
© imago/ABACAPRESS
New award for Crown Princess Leonor: The daughter of Spain’s King Felipe VI. is now an honorary citizen of the city of Zaragoza.
Crown Princess Leonor, 18, is following in her father’s footsteps. 38 years ago the Spanish King Felipe VI, 56, made an honorary citizen by the city of Zaragoza. He is literally a “Hijo Adoptivo”, or adopted son of the city in northeastern Spain. Now his eldest daughter Leonor, 18, has also been given this honor.
On Tuesday (May 21st), Leonor was honored three times: she was awarded two important military medals and the title of “adoptive daughter” of Zaragoza. Pictures show the 18-year-old in a good mood in her military uniform at the town hall, where she accepted awards from the city council and the mayor, Natalia Chueca. The title of “Hija Adoptiva” was given to her “to recognize the affection of the city for the Princess of Asturias, to honor her importance for the Aragonese capital and Spain and to express her attachment to the city,” it said According to the Daily Mail, the decision was justified.
Zaragoza has become Leonor’s home
Crown Princess Leonor has been completing the first year of her three-year military training at the Zaragoza Military Academy since last August. Anyone who has “made a significant social, political, economic, cultural or scientific contribution to the city” is made an honorary citizen of the capital of the Aragon region.
Leonor completed the ceremonies for the triple honor without her father King Felipe, her mother Queen Letizia, 51, or her sister Princess Sofía, 17. In her speech, however, she explained how grateful she was to follow in the monarch’s footsteps. “I can tell you that what I have experienced here goes far beyond what I thought ten months ago. In Zaragoza, in Aragon, I felt at home, welcomed and accompanied in a country that will always be part of my life,” she said, according to Spanish newspaper “Hola!” visibly touched.
Leonor graduated from Atlantic College in the Welsh county of Vale of Glamorgan in May 2023. After the year in Zaragoza, she will move on to the Marín Naval Academy in Pontevedra in Galicia, before starting the final stage of her training with the Air Force in Murcia in eastern Spain.