San Javier, Murcia – The heir to the Spanish throne has arrived in Murcia, as she begins a new chapter in her military training. Princess Leonor touched down just before noon on Monday in a Falcon jet, stepping onto the runway at San Javier with the quiet confidence that has already become her hallmark.
This year, the Princess of Asturias will call the General Air Force Academy (AGA) her home. Dressed in a crisp blue Air and Space Force uniform — her name stitched modestly as Second Lieutenant Borbón Ortiz — Leonor blends formality with determination. Even her green flight suit carries the same personalization, signalling that the 18-year-old royal is ready to embrace the demanding life of a cadet.
After two intense years of military immersion — one in the Army, the other in the Navy — Leonor now turns her focus to the skies. At San Javier, she joins 481 cadets, 74 of them women. In her own class of 75, 15 are future female officers, making up 20 percent — a sign of changing times in a historically male-dominated institution.
Her arrival was marked with all the ceremony one would expect. Colonel Luis Felipe González Asenjo, the Academy’s director, led the welcome alongside senior officers, while Captain Abel Marín Rodríguez, who will act as her academic tutor, stood among the first to salute her. After a brief round of greetings — formal to most, but warm with the Colonel — the Princess added her name to the Academy’s honour book, a tradition spanning more than eight decades.
Then came her first steps into the cockpit world. Guided by Captain Alberto Guzmán, a seasoned instructor of the Swiss Pilatus PC-21 program, Leonor entered the flight simulator. Guzmán had once prepared her father, King Felipe VI, for the same aircraft; yesterday, in a symbolic handover, he began to do the same for his daughter. “I’m eager to fly, but little by little,” Leonor said afterwards, summing up both her excitement and her characteristic caution.
For now, patience will be her closest co-pilot. Before she can take control of a Pilatus, Leonor must complete 50 simulator hours, progressing from basic computer-based training to advanced systems that replicate emergencies and offer 180-degree vision. Only then will she be cleared for the coveted “release” — her very first solo flight.
Her schedule leaves little room for idleness: 6:30 a.m. wake-up calls, long study hours, intense physical training, and new subjects in aerospace science and satellite projects. She will share a cabin with two fellow cadets, blending into Academy life as much as security protocols allow. While her colleagues might enjoy anonymous strolls through San Javier, Leonor’s outings will always carry a discreet security presence — a reminder that she is both a student and Spain’s future Queen.
Still, those who meet her at the Academy insist on treating her as just another cadet. And that may be Leonor’s greatest strength: the ability to slip between the role of dutiful heir and disciplined student, never letting one overshadow the other.
Her presence, of course, hasn’t gone unnoticed. Crowds of cameras gathered for her arrival, as they always do, eager to capture Spain’s most closely watched young royal. Yet inside the Academy, away from the flashbulbs, Princess Leonor’s focus is fixed firmly on the horizon — learning, little by little, how to fly.
